Caelestis Alpha: Return of the Kings
by Griphy
Summary: When an ancient device capable of transporting people to other planets is discovered, the Baby Mario Bros are thrust into an adventure of galactic proportions. The first five chapters are up; chapter six probably won't be completed.
1. Rediscovery

Author's Notes: Hello, everyone! Welcome to the first episode of the series that I'm writing, Caelestis Alpha. If you're familiar with the TV show Stargate, this story is basically where a Stargate is discovered on the Mushroom World. You don't need to know a thing about Stargate in order to read this story, though! This story (and its sequels) will be written in an episodic format and will feature several crossovers with various other franchises. There are a few more things I should note before beginning the story. First, this takes place in a timeline where the Galaxy games never happened. Second, in this timeline, the Baby Mario Bros got stuck in the future at the end of Partners in Time (that'll be explained further in the story). Third, I bumped up the technology level of the Mushroom Kingdom compared to what we usually see in the main games. Considering Super Mario Galaxy's intergalactic airships and galaxy reactors, I don't think I went too overboard with this (the Mushroom Kingdom in this story is a bit more advanced than the modern-day US). There will still be extensive use of magic, such as power-ups, alongside technology. Fourth, the name of the Mushroom World in this story is Plit; it's a fanon term that was used on the now-defunct Lemmy's Land website. Any and all criticism is welcomed. Enjoy!

* * *

An explosion shot through the mountain as the Bob-omb placed at the end of the tunnel detonated, revealing another chamber within the ancient fortress.

Several Human guards quickly moved into the uncovered chamber, using their flashlights to penetrate the dust caused by the explosion and see if there was anything inside. After a couple seconds, one of them said, "Clear," and a small group of Toads and Koopas moved in.

"We finally made it," a Koopa who seemed to be the leader of the expedition said. "We've known for decades that a secret chamber existed inside this mountain-fortress, but we've never found it."

"Until now," another Koopa, who was the first Koopa's assistant, said. This Koopa wore a blue shell and a red bandana, making it obvious who he was; he was Kooper, a Koopa living in Koopa Village who helped Mario defeat Bowser when the Koopa King had stolen the Star Rod and became invincible.

"It'll take a while for the dust to clear," the lead Koopa said. "Set up just outside and prepare to do a survey."

"Uh, professor…?" a Toad nervously said. The Koopa professor and Kooper ran up to him.

"What is it?" Kooper asked. He looked to where the Toad was looking, and his jaw dropped in awe. "Woah…"

At the far end of the room, a large ring stood upright, elevated above the rest of the room on a large ramp. The ring was completely smooth and silver in color, and was composed of two main parts; the outer ring, which had eleven chevrons on it facing forward into the ring spaced equidistant from each other, and the inner ring, which was much thinner than the outer ring and divided into ten sections, each one having a number from zero to nine on it. A couple of meters from the ring was a floating sphere with two curved objects floating to the sides of it. There was an indent on the top of the sphere, where a remote-like device was sitting. The small, curved structures and the sphere were both dark yellow in color.

Kooper began asking, "Is…is that-?!"

"I think it is," the Koopa professor said.

"But…but that's a myth!" Kooper said.

"Not anymore," the Koopa said. The three continued to stare at the ring for a couple seconds, when the Koopa said, "Oh, yes. I'm winning a Nobel Prize."

* * *

A large, black, triangular-shaped building served as the headquarters for the Mushroom Kingdom's army and defense forces. This building was named the MKDC, which stood for Mushroom Kingdom Defense Command. Baby Mario and Baby Luigi walked up to the entrance, showed their security passes to a Toad guard, and entered the building.

Baby Mario and Baby Luigi were the younger versions of the Mushroom Kingdom's two heroes, Mario and Luigi. In the year 2003, Professor Elvin Gadd built a time machine, which Princess Peach used to go back to the year 1973, when the Shroobs, a race of extraterrestrials looking for a new home, were invading the Mushroom Kingdom. She was captured by the Shroobs, and Mario and Luigi followed her to the past to rescue her. The two older Marios met up with their baby selves, and the four Marios teamed up to rescue Peach. After defeating the monarch of the Shroobs and rescuing Peach, the babies went with the older Marios to the present, and the rips in time caused by Peach being kidnapped were mended, leaving them stranded in this time.

They created lives for themselves in the 2000s. Baby Mario, eager to become as good a fighter as his older self was, trained at the Toad Town Dojo with the Master, becoming an expert in fighting. He then began going with Mario and Luigi on adventures whenever Bowser attacked, and he also began participating in tennis tournaments and go-kart races. His success at such an early age caused him to become somewhat cocky and even a bit arrogant, differentiating his personality from the older Mario.

Meanwhile, Baby Luigi was fascinated by the time machine, and resolved to learn more about science and technology. E. Gadd took the new arrival to this time under his wing, and within a few months, Baby Luigi was an expert at physics. He also accompanied Mario, Luigi, and Baby Mario on adventures, frequently coming up with solutions to tough problems they encounter. Baby Luigi is a master at both the theoretical and the experimental, and he considers himself both a physicist and an engineer.

It was said that even if you could grow a perfect clone of someone, they wouldn't be the same as that person, because the clone would have different experiences and a different environment from that person. It would seem that the case of the Marios/Baby Marios proved that. If it weren't for the time traveling, Baby Mario and Baby Luigi would be 41 by now; yet, because of the journey through time, they had essentially skipped over thirty years and were only 11 years old. They basically just looked like younger versions of Mario and Luigi. However, they were much more intelligent than the average 11 year old. Legend states that every century, seven stars fall from the sky and enter the hearts of seven children, granting them extraordinary power and intelligence. Baby Mario and Baby Luigi were two of these Star Children, which explained why they were so much more powerful and intelligent than other children their age. Even though they weren't exactly babies anymore, they still just called themselves the Baby Mario Bros, to distinguish themselves from the older Mario Bros.

Baby Mario and Baby Luigi made it to the top of MKDC, where they showed their security passes to yet another guard, and entered a large rectangular meeting room with red carpet and a large wooden table. Mario, Luigi, Peach, Toadsworth, the lead Koopa from before, Kooper, General White (a Bob-omb general who helped Mario get to the moon during the X-Naut campaign), and several security guards were in the room.

"Ah, Masters Baby Mario and Baby Luigi!" Toadsworth said. "Please, come in and have a seat."

"Thanks," Baby Mario said.

"Alright!" Peach said. "Now that everyone is here, let's get started."

The major figures in the room all sat down at the table. "So, what's this about?" Baby Mario asked.

General White spoke up. "A couple of weeks ago, Professor Karter Koopa, along with his assistant, Kooper, led an expedition into the ancient Koopa mountain-fortress of Sandsword. He discovered a chamber that has been lost for over a millennium, and inside, found something amazing."

Professor Karter said, "Well, I don't think 'amazing' quite describes this! Are any of you familiar with the Caelestis?"

"It's an ancient, mythological device," Baby Luigi said. "The legend says that it was used for interplanetary travel by ancient Koopas, until some sort of disaster overtook them. The Caelestis was then sealed away."

"Yes, that's right!" Kooper said. "Except for the part where you said that it was mythological."

"Wait," Mario said, "you mean that the Koopas actually went to other planets thousands of years ago, using this Caelestis thing?"

"Yeah!" Kooper said.

"That's impossible," Baby Luigi said. "No evidence has ever been found to support that-"

"Until now," Professor Karter said. "We found the Caelestis."

Silence overtook the room. Eventually, Luigi asked, "H-how?"

"It was in that secret chamber we discovered," Professor Karter said. "We've deciphered most of the writing in that room, and we think we've found out how it works."

"There are billions of Caelestis throughout the galaxy," Kooper said. "Each one has a unique eleven-digit identifier number. There's a sort of 'remote' that allows a Caelestis to 'dial' another Caelestis, if you know its identifier number, creating a portal between them."

"Wait, do you mean a wormhole?" Baby Luigi asked.

"The translation could mean either," Kooper said.

"Wow. This is huge," Baby Luigi said. "If I'm understanding this correctly, you can use one Caelestis to dial another Caelestis on another planet lightyears away. A wormhole will form between the two Caelestis, facilitating instant travel between planets!"

"That's our understanding as well," Professor Karter said.

"…Wow," Baby Luigi said. "So, using the Caelestis, we could instantly go to other planets and explore them!" After a moment, he asked, "What are the power requirements?"

"We're not sure," Kooper said. "From what we're able to decipher, we think that the other object we discovered near the Caelestis provides all the power for the wormhole."

"We've already discovered the identifier for the last Caelestis that this one was connected to," Professor Karter said. "It was in the remote that you use to dial the Caelestis; apparently, that planet was the last one that the ancient Koopas went to before sealing away the Caelestis. We'd like to explore it."

"…Wow. Exploring another planet?" Princess Peach said. "What about aliens like the Shroobs?"

"That's why we're going to go, too!" Mario said.

"Wait…we?" Luigi repeated.

"Of course!" Mario said. "We're the Super Mario Bros!"

"Umm…thanks, Mario, but…I think I may have left the oven on, and…"

"Come on, Luigi! Don't chicken out on this," Mario said. "The chance to explore another planet. That's got to be exciting, even for you!"

"But…aw, fine."

"So, it's settled," Peach said. "Professor Karter and Kooper will lead an expedition to this planet, with backup from Mario, Luigi, Baby Mario, and Baby Luigi."

"Let's add the Yoshi Squadron," Baby Luigi said. "They're good at covering our backs."

"Alright then," Peach said.

"I'm just concerned about if Bowser attacks while we're gone," Baby Mario said.

"Don't worry, Baby Mario," General White said. "Those of us in the Mushroom Kingdom military have been training. We're ready for anything now."

"Oh, yeah," Baby Luigi said, "how are we going to get back? Do we know the identifier for our Caelestis?"

"We do," Professor Karter said. "It was one of the first things we deciphered. It's two zero-zero four, eight two nine four, four six four."

"That's kinda tough to remember," Baby Mario said.

"We'll write it down," Mario said.

"Alright," Peach said. "It's a go."

* * *

Baby Mario and a security guard entered Peach's Castle. "This way, sir," the guard said. They entered a room of the castle that was out of the way and hadn't been used for years.

"Sure this is the way?" Baby Mario asked.

"Positive," the guard said.

"Okay," Baby Mario said. They went down a long hallway, and down a flight of stairs, until they came to a door with a keypad next to it.

"If you'll swipe your card there…" the guard said. Baby Mario nodded, took out his security card, and swiped it on the keypad. The guard then entered a four-digit combination, and the door opened. They entered into an elevator, where the guard entered another passcode and pressed a button. The elevator began descending at over thirty miles per hour, with g-forces threatening to splat Baby Mario into the ceiling. After a couple seconds, they abruptly stopped, and the elevator door opened. They exited and approached another door with a keypad. "Again," the guard said. Baby Mario shrugged and swiped his card again, upon which the guard entered a different four-digit combination, and the door unlocked. They entered into a massive underground complex, with people running around everywhere. The walls were made out of bright steel plating. The room had a large table in the middle, and had a green carpet.

"Woah…" Baby Mario said.

"Baby Mario," General White said, "welcome to the Caelestis Agency."

Baby Mario turned to face him, and saw Mario and Baby Luigi standing next to the Bob-omb general. "Wow. This is a…pretty big place," Baby Mario said. "How long did it take to build?"

"Not long," Baby Luigi said. "You know how fourteen years ago, Bowser used the Star Rod to lift both his and Peach's castles into the atmosphere? That caused a giant cave network to form underneath the castle, and we just excavated the rest of it out."

Baby Mario walked a couple feet forward, towards a glass window overlooking another part of the facility. There was the Caelestis, sitting on a ramp with several technicians working around it.

"So that's the Caelestis," Baby Mario said, "the thing that'll let us cross lightyears in moments."

"Yep," Baby Luigi said. "We've managed to interface it with our systems."

"Didn't Professor Karter say there was another thing with the Caelestis?" Baby Mario asked.

"The control sphere," General White said. "It's in the control room, one level below."

"Let's see it," Baby Mario said. They went down a stairwell and came to the main control room of the Caelestis Agency. At the front of the room was another glass window which overlooked the Caelestis. At the back were several computers, with wires hooked up to them which went through the walls and connected them and the Caelestis. In the middle of the room was the floating sphere and the two curved objects floating to the sides of it, with multiple wires hooked up to them. Baby Mario stepped up to the sphere, grabbed the remote that was embedded into the top of it, and began examining it.

"We've determined that that's how you dial other Caelestis," Baby Luigi said. "You enter the identifier number into the remote, put it back into its slot on the sphere, and place your hands over the sphere. It then sends a signal to the Caelestis, telling it which Caelestis in the galaxy to open a wormhole to."

"Neat," Baby Mario said.

Mario came up and said, "We're just about getting ready to leave. We've got all the equipment that the archaeological team will need, and tons of power-ups."

"Great!" Baby Mario said. "What kind?"

"The usual," Mario said. "Fire Flowers, Cape Feathers, and more."

"Let's head up to the briefing room," General White said. "Professor Karter and his team are waiting."

The four took the stairwell up a level, and took seats at the table. Luigi, Professor Karter, Kooper, six other archaeologists and researchers, and the Yoshi Squadron were already sitting.

The Yoshi Squadron was a team of four young Yoshis who had banded together to defeat Bowser when he threatened Yoshi's Island several years ago. After defeating him, they decided to become a team dedicated to battling the Koopas. There was Quake, a yellow Yoshi with super strength, Flare, a red Yoshi with the ability to spit super-hot fire, Zipper, a light blue Yoshi with the ability of super speed, and Colorful, a dark blue Yoshi with the ability to make whatever he draws come to life.

"Ten-hut!" Quake said. The Yoshi Squadron saluted as General White, Mario, and the Baby Mario Bros. entered the room.

"At ease," General White said. The Squadron broke the salute and sat down.

"They're not even in the military," Baby Luigi whispered to Baby Mario. "They just like doing that."

The four new arrivals took seats at the table. "Now," General White began, "the purpose of this mission is for Professor Karter and his team to explore this new planet that we have the Caelestis combination to. The Mario Bros, Baby Mario Bros, and Yoshi Squadron will provide backup, in case there are any hostile aliens on the planet. If there are, you need to get back to Plit as soon as possible. With the Koopas building up their military, we cannot afford an invasion. "

"What if the aliens follow us through?" Baby Mario asked.

"We'll have defense teams on standby at all times," General White said. "Now, does everyone remember the identifier for Plit's Caelestis?"

"Ehhh…" Baby Mario said. "It begins with 2004. Can't remember the rest."

Colorful said, "The rest is eight two nine four-four six four."

"Each of you will have to memorize the code," General White said. "If something happens off-world and you're the only one to make it back to the Caelestis, you'll need that code to get home."

"Oh, I'm sure I'll be able to remember it," Baby Mario said.

"Good. Let's do this," General White said. The group got up and went back down to the control room. Mario stepped up to the floating sphere and picked the remote up from it.

Professor Karter said, "Enter the numbers into the remote as I say them. Seven four eight five nine, zero six seven four, two three." Mario entered the digits and placed the remote back in its spot. He then placed his hands over the sphere, and both the sphere and the two curved objects floating to the sides lit up, along with the chevrons on the Caelestis. A completely dark blue wall of energy formed inside of the Caelestis, originating in the center and quickly spreading across the entire interior of the Caelestis. The energy then faded to show a desert landscape. There were some cacti a couple meters away, and the dialing sphere for that Caelestis was also nearby. There was a slight change in the pressure and temperature of the Caelestis Agency as air and heat began to flow through the Caelestis between the two worlds.

"So the Caelestis we're going to is in a desert?" Baby Mario asked.

"Seems like that," Baby Luigi said. "The dialing sphere on the other planet looks to be intact. We should be good to go."

"Good luck," General White said.

"Thanks," Mario and Professor Karter said at the same time.

"Let's start getting equipment loaded up onto vehicles," Kooper said. All of the expedition's equipment was loaded onto robotic transport vehicles, and sent through the Caelestis first. After three vehicles went through, Professor Karter went up to the event horizon, with Baby Luigi at his side.

"What do you think it'll feel like to go through this wormhole?" Professor Karter asked.

"Nothing," Baby Luigi said. "Wormholes bridge two places in the universe together. Think of it like opening a door in your house and stepping through. You won't feel a thing."

"If you say so," Professor Karter said. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and stepped through. Baby Luigi quickly followed, as did the other members of the expedition.

As Karter stepped out onto the alien desert landscape, he nearly tripped over himself, surprised at how uneventful the journey was. He took a couple steps forward and examined the area as Baby Luigi, Mario, the Yoshi Squadron, and then Luigi and the rest of the members of the expedition started coming through.

"Get set up, guys," Quake said. The archaeologists nodded and began setting up their research equipment.

"Wow," Karter said. "I can't believe I'm actually on an alien planet."

General White stood in front of the Caelestis on the Plit side. Baby Luigi stood right in front of the wormhole on his side and said, "We'll dial Plit from this side to confirm that the Caelestis here is working. If we can't make a connection within five minutes, dial back and we'll come back through the wormhole.

"Got it," General White said. Baby Luigi stepped to the dialing device on his side of the wormhole, and placed both hands over the sphere. The sphere stopped glowing, and the wormhole disengaged.

Baby Luigi then grabbed the remote and input the numbers for Plit's Caelestis. "Let's see…2004, eighty-two ninety-four, four sixty-four." He put the remote back and placed his hands over the sphere. Once again, dark blue energy burst into existence inside the Caelestis, then faded to show the Caelestis Agency on the other side.

"It worked," Baby Luigi said to General White, who was still standing on the other side.

Baby Mario stepped up to the event horizon and said, "Every twenty-four hours, we'll dial back and tell you what's goin' on. If we don't, dial here yourselves. If you can't make radio contact with us, then I recommend burying the Caelestis. Like you said, we can't afford an alien invasion right now."

"Let's hope we don't have to do that," General White said through the wormhole. "Good luck."

Baby Mario nodded as Baby Luigi put his hands over the sphere once more and severed the wormhole connection.

"Okay, let's make camp," Mario said.

"We'll begin a soil analysis," Karter said.

"Good idea," Baby Mario said. "Always do the soil analysis first."

"…Right," Karter said. He went with the rest of the archaeologists, including Kooper, and began working, while the Marios and the Yoshi Squadron pitched tents.

A couple hours later, night began descending over the desert. Professor Karter's analysis of the sand turned up nothing anomalous, and the group went to sleep. The next day, they woke up and started deconstructing the tents.

"So," Baby Mario said, "what's the agenda for today?"

"Explore," Mario said. "Let's see if we can find some of the natives."

"Alright then. The sun rises this way," Baby Mario pointed to his left, "so let's call that east. Let's explore east." The rest of the group agreed, and they set off in that direction.

A couple of hours later, they reached a grassland. Mario and Luigi scaled a mountain, and spotted a settlement in the distance. The group reached the settlement just as the sun reached its peak.

"Kooper should handle contact with the natives," Professor Karter said. "He's become an expert in ancient languages, and he's somewhat of a diplomat."

"Alright then," Mario said.

They entered the village, and saw that all the inhabitants were Humans. "They're certainly not Shroobs," Baby Mario said.

"Well, that's good," Luigi said. Suddenly, a chariot rode up to the group, ridden by a man in purple and red regal garments with a strange marking on his arm.

"Greetings!" the man said. "Welcome to our little village. What king do you belong to?"

"Umm…the same one you do, I guess," Kooper said.

"Servants of Saronial are always welcome here," the man said. "I am Vircule, leader of this village. Perhaps you would like to join us for dinner? A lieutenant of Saronial himself will be visiting soon, and I'm sure you'd like to meet him."

"Dinner's good," Baby Mario said. "I'm hungry already."

"We accept your offer," Kooper said.

"Good!" Vircule said. "Come, climb up into the chariot. I'll take you to the castle."

"Hang on. Would you mind excusing us for a moment?" Baby Mario asked.

Vircule shrugged. "Okay."

The Plitians walked and huddled into a corner nearby. "Okay, first of all," Baby Mario said, "who's Saronial, and why did you say we serve him?"

"I don't know who he is," Kooper said, "but when in Rome…"

"…What's Rome?" Baby Mario asked.

"Never mind," Kooper said. "What I'm saying is that we have a better chance of forging good relations with these people if we conform to their society."

"Kooper's right," Mario said. "We probably have a better chance of figuring out who this Saronial guy is this way."

"Fine," Baby Mario said, "but the archaeologists stay in town. The Yoshi Squadron will stay with them and keep 'em out of trouble."

"Who put you in charge?" Baby Luigi asked.

"Yeah, Mario should be the one calling the shots," Luigi said.

"I'm the most strategic-minded," Baby Mario said. "Besides, don't want to bring too many people. Get some of that good food before it's all gone."

"Fine," Mario said. "We'll do it your way. Or, mine…since you're basically me…but okay. Karter, you and your team stay in town and keep in radio contact. Zipper, scout around near the village. Quake, you and your team try and make a defensive perimeter. Kooper, you'll be with us."

"Got it," came the general response.

"Let's-a go," Mario said. The team divided to accomplish their assigned tasks. Mario, Luigi, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, and Kooper climbed into the chariot with Vircule.

"What about the others?" Vircule asked.

"They'll be staying in town," Kooper said.

"Fine by me," Vircule said. He whipped the horse pulling the chariot, and they began going south. "So, what are your names?"

"I'm Mario," Mario said. "This is Luigi, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, and Kooper."

"…Baby Mario and…Baby Luigi?" Vircule repeated.

"Don't ask," Baby Mario said. "Complicated timey-wimey…stuff."

Vircule shrugged. "Kooper, I haven't seen any of your kind before."

"Oh, yeah, uh…" Kooper said, "…my kind has just recently been inducted into Saronial's army."

"Must've been recent," Vircule said.

"Oh yeah, fairly recent."

"We're almost there," Vircule said. In the distance, they could see a large stone castle. They reached it within a minute, and disembarked at the entrance. "Come on in." They entered the castle. It wasn't very well decorated, mostly just stone walls and chandeliers. The room they entered was a large hallway, with various windows and doors into other rooms. "The dining hall is this way," Vircule motioned towards a nearby door. They entered, and saw a very long dining room table with dozens of seats, as well as various servants running around preparing food. "Come, sit at the far side with me."

They went to the far end of the table and took seats there. Servants began bringing them food on silver platters. Baby Mario whispered to Baby Luigi, "Well, so far, I'd say first contact is going along swell." He took the lid off a platter, and saw some sort of purple soup with little black things floating around in it. "Could be going better…" He said to Vircule, "I don't suppose you have any…chicken strips?"

"Uh…" Vircule gave a confused look. "We have…turkey."

"Oh, good, then I'll take some of that," Baby Mario said, pushing the soup away. A servant came and gave a platter to Baby Mario, who promptly took the top off and saw a live turkey, with its guts hanging out and the inside of its throat exposed. "Or not…" He quickly put the lid back on, pushed the platter away, and looked to the side, trying to forget the image. Luigi struggled to not throw up.

"I don't understand," Vircule said. "Is this not the type of cuisine you usually ingest?"

"Not…usually," Mario said. "Vircule, we have some questions, to…test your loyalty to Saronial. Are you up for it?"

"Of course."

"Alright," Mario said. "First…who is Saronial?"

"There's no one in the galaxy who hasn't heard of him," Vircule said. "He is one of the Elder Kings; the most powerful one, in fact. He rules over a great portion of this galaxy and commands many trillions of soldiers."

"Alright…who are the Elder Kings?"

Vircule scoffed. "This 'quiz' is a waste of my time."

"Just answer," Baby Mario said.

Vircule sighed, rolled his eyes, and said, "They are the ones who rule over us. The Elder Kings are the leaders of the Old King civilization, although they fight amongst each other for sole control of the Old Empire."

"So these…Elder Kings," Kooper said, "rule over the entire galaxy?"

"Yes," Vircule confirmed. A servant came up to him and whispered something to him. "If you have any more 'trivia questions' to ask, they will have to wait. The lieutenant of Saronial arrives."

Outside, a trumpet blared as a crier announced, "All hail, the commander of His King's armies, Roiumus!" A man in golden garments wearing a silver mask walked into the dining room, flanked by ten guards wielding what appeared to be small ray guns.

Vircule walked up to Roiumus and kneeled. "Great Commander, I am humbled by your presence."

"Rise," Roiumus said. He took off the mask and revealed his face, which seemed to be made entirely out of stone. Even his eyes were a dull gray color. He then approached Mario and co. "Who are these?"

"We're fellow servants of Saronial," Kooper said.

"I've never seen one such as you," Roiumus said. "Check them for the mark."

Guards quickly grabbed ahold of the Marios and pulled up their right sleeves. "No mark," a guard said.

Roiumus grabbed Mario by the throat. "You're not servants of Saronial, are you? Answer me, cretin."

"N-no," Mario barely managed to say.

"Do you serve Igneus? Perhaps Zephial? Are you undercover agents from Cordatia? Answer now!" Mario didn't answer. Roiumus grinned and said, "You, and your little friends, will tell me all I want to know, soon enough." He dropped Mario to the ground.

"HEY!" Baby Mario shouted. "Why don't you fight me like a man?!"

Roiumus scoffed. "You? A mere child, challenges the might of Roiumus?"

"Yeah! But I'll bet you're too chicken to fight!"

Roiumus just smirked, and pressed a button on a device he was wearing around his arm. The guards stepped back, and a wave of electricity shot out at lightspeed from the device, instantly knocking the Marios and Kooper unconscious.

"Bring them to the Gateway," Roiumus said.

"My liege," Vircule said, "there were others with them. They stayed in the village."

"Then find them," Roiumus said, "and bring them also. These infidels shall reveal all their secrets, soon enough."

"Yes, my liege." Vircule knelt before Roiumus, got up, barked some commands at a couple guards, and left. Roiumus grinned malevolently, and left as well, with his personal guard dragging the bodies of the Plitians behind him.

* * *

Quake and Flare patrolled the part of the village where they entered, while Zipper scouted out the surrounding area and Colorful watched the entrance from a hill. The archaeologists had set up a small base just outside the village and were taking more rock and soil samples.

"I'm kinda surprised these aliens know English," Flare said.

"Yeah. I thought they'd be speaking an alien language, like the Shroobs did," Quake said. "Oh well, better for us, eh?"

"Yep. Say, you know General White, the commanding officer of the Caelestis Agency? Didn't he used to run that cannon in Fahr Outpost?"

"Yep," Quake said. "After the Koopas invaded in 2006, he was called back into active duty and tasked with training the Mushroom Kingdom's military to repel invasions. I'd say he's done pretty well, all things considered."

"Yeah, well, it's still kinda weird to be led by a three-foot tall living bomb," Flare said. Suddenly, Flare's radio clicked. He grabbed it and said into it, "YS Delta-2."

"YS Delta-2, this is YS Delta-1," Colorful's voice came out from the radio. "We've got one-one UPs in the area of EXP-five. Over."

"YS Delta-1, copy," Flare said. "Meet at base alpha three. Out." He clicked his radio and said, "YS Beta-2, YS Delta-2. Meet at base alpha three. Over."

Zipper's voice then came out of Flare's radio, "YS Beta-2, roger that. Out."

Flare put his radio back into idle mode and said to Quake, "Sometimes I think that using all these radio and military terms is more trouble than it's worth. Why can't I just say, 'Hey, Zipper, meet us at the camp.'?"

"Never mind that," Quake said. "What's going on?"

"Colorful spotted eleven unidentified persons going into the castle that the Marios went into." The two Yoshis began running to the camp the archaeologists set up.

"We'll try and establish radio contact with the Marios when we get to base," Quake said. A couple seconds later, Colorful caught up with them, and they began going up the hill that the base was situated on. They reached the top quickly, and began walking through the small forest of trees. As they got close to the camp, Colorful suddenly heard something.

"Get down," he said. The three Yoshis got down and looked toward the camp.

Zipper was already there, tapping his foot as the archaeologists were at work doing surveys. Then, a wave of electricity shot out into the camp, instantly incapacitating everyone there. Six Humans ran into the encampment, each one holding a ray gun, and one of them wearing a similar device on his arm as the one that Roiumus used to knock out the Marios. "Take them to the Gateway," the unique one said.

"Gateway?" Flare repeated. "That sounds like…the Caelestis."

The guards did a quick search inside the tents of the encampment, and then began dragging Zipper and the archaeologists away, in the direction of the Caelestis. "Let's follow them," Colorful said.

"Wait," Quake said. He ran into the encampment, went inside one of the tents, and came out carrying a bag. "Items," he said. "We might need them."

"Alright. Let's go," Flare said. The three Yoshis stood low and trailed a moderate distance behind the Humans, until they reached the Caelestis. One of the Humans grabbed the remote, input a string of numbers into it, and placed his hands over the sphere to activate the Caelestis.

"I've got a visual on the wormhole," Quake said. "It looks heavily guarded. Not counting the guys going through the wormhole, I count at least twenty guards on the other side, and there may be more. It also looks like there's one guy who just operates the Caelestis. He's not carrying a weapon." Shortly after Quake finished, all six Humans entered the Caelestis. The Caelestis operator placed both of his hands over the sphere on that side of the wormhole, and the wormhole disengaged.

Quake, Flare, and Colorful quickly ran up to the Caelestis. Colorful dashed to the sphere and said, "Oh, thank goodness. It looks like the combination they entered is still in the remote. It might only be overwritten when someone else dials, or they dial another number."

"Let's mount a rescue op!" Flare said.

"No way," Quake said. "There were way too many of them."

"Come on!" Flare said. "How tough could they be?"

"Well, they had the ability to instantly knock out eight people using a wave of electricity!" Quake said. "I'd say they're more powerful than we'd expect."

"Well, we've got to do something!" Flare said. "Agh, if only Zipper were here. He could just speedblitz 'em, and then we'd be good to go."

"Well, Zipper's not here, so-" Quake suddenly paused. "Wait a moment. We can speedblitz them!"

"How?" Flare and Colorful both asked.

Quake reached into the bag he was carrying and pulled out a Stop Watch. "Using this! Dial the Caelestis, and as soon as it activates, use the Stop Watch and stop time for ten seconds. We quickly step through, disable as many guards as we can while time's frozen, and then take out the rest when time's unfrozen, because they'll be too surprised to react!"

"That sounds like a good plan!" Flare said.

"We'll need to be within two feet of each other for the Stop Watch to affect us all," Quake said. Flare moved closer to him. Colorful placed his hands over the sphere, and quickly ran to Flare and Quake. The wormhole formed inside the Caelestis and showed a grassland, with a dozen guards immediately in front of the Caelestis and more a couple meters away. They instantly pointed their guns at the Yoshis. One fired, causing a bolt of energy to zoom at Flare. Quake used the Stop Watch, freezing time for all but themselves.

"Woah…" The frozen bolt of energy hovered just over two feet in front of Flare's nose. "Sheesh…"

"Come on, no time to lose!" Quake said. The three Yoshis dashed into the Caelestis and began attacking the guards. Quake punched out eight guards, Flare incinerated twelve with his fireballs, and Colorful flutter kicked four. Though the guards didn't show any immediate reaction, they all screamed and fell unconscious as soon as time unfroze. The remaining two guards, as well as the Caelestis operator, were all taken by surprise. The guards were incinerated and punched out, while Colorful knocked the operator to the floor.

"Where have our friends been taken?" Colorful demanded.

"I…I know nothing!" the operator quickly said. Flare shot a fireball at the ground nearby, instantly incinerating the grass. "Okay! Okay! I tell! Roiumus took strangers to castle. Castle, over there." They saw in the distance, beyond a forest and up a hill, a massive, gold-painted castle with several spires and countless floors.

"Alright, thanks." Quake punched the operator and knocked him out. "We can't have anyone reporting back. Come on." The three Yoshis began dashing towards the castle.

* * *

"Oh, I knew this was a bad idea…" Luigi said.

"That's the fifth time you've said that…" Baby Mario said.

Mario, Luigi, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, and Kooper were in the dungeon of the gold-painted castle. Their cell was a small area with brick walls, a dirt floor, and no decoration of any kind. The entrance to the cell was a brick wall which retracted, making the area completely sealed off when the cell wasn't open. Luigi was sitting in the corner drawing in the dirt, Baby Mario was sitting in the opposite corner with his head buried in his hands, Baby Luigi was in the middle of the room examining the roof, Kooper was off to the side laying down on his stomach, and Mario was feeling around where the wall retracted for any weak spots.

"Yep, very bad idea to explore an alien planet…" Luigi mumbled.

"Sixth time…" Baby Mario said.

"Don't worry, guys," Mario said. "As soon as they come in, we attack them, find our power-ups, and break out of here." He continued examining the wall, when he suddenly paused. "Hang on…I hear footsteps."

Baby Mario and Kooper both quickly got up and positioned themselves in front of the frontward wall, preparing to attack. Suddenly, the wall behind them retracted, revealing more empty space and doubling the area of the prison cell. The frontward wall then retracted, and they saw ten guards, all already pointing their ray guns inside the cell.

"Don't even try attacking," a guard said.

"What? Us? Attack you?" Baby Mario said. "Nah, you must be kidding…" Baby Mario went back to his corner of the cell.

The guards pushed eight other people in. Mario recognized them instantly: Professor Karter, Zipper, and the other six archaeologists. They were all unconscious.

"Roiumus will see the one called Baby Mario," the guard said.

"Oh, look at me, so famous," Baby Mario said. He grudgingly got up, left the cell, and began following the guards. The door then closed.

* * *

Baby Mario walked into the throne room of the castle, which was a long hallway leading up to steps upon which a purple and golden throne sat. The floor was made from solid gold, and the path to the throne had a red carpet laid out on it. The ceiling was several meters high, and multiple chandeliers hung from it. The guards escorted Baby Mario to the foot of the throne and kneeled before Roiumus, who was sitting on the throne.

"Nice place you got here," Baby Mario said, looking around. "How much did it cost?" One of the guards kicked Baby Mario's leg with extreme force, causing him to fall to his knees. "Agh! Ow…"

"Saronial ordered this castle built as a reward for my unwavering decades of loyalty to him," Roiumus said.

"Decades, eh?"

"Back at the village, you challenged me to a battle."

"Yeah. And the offer's still on the table."

Roiumus made a motion to his guards, and they all stepped a few meters to the side. Roiumus stood and grabbed what seemed to be a training staff from a rack hanging nearby. He threw it to Baby Mario, who barely managed to catch it right after standing up, and then got another staff for himself.

"Oh, a staff," Baby Mario said, disappointed. "If we're going to battle, I'd prefer my hammer."

"Very well." Roiumus motioned to a guard, who turned around, opened a box, took out Baby Mario's hammer, and threw it to him.

Baby Mario effortlessly caught his hammer by the handle and said, "Oh, yeah. You're looking at over 25,000 cubic centimeters of steel. You're doomed."

Roiumus just smirked and said, "Let the battle…begin."

Baby Mario instantly held his hammer over his head and leapt at Roiumus, smashing the hammer down onto the enemy. Though he would've expected the hammer to be parried by Roiumus's staff, he didn't expect it to be parried by…nothing. The hammer smashed through the air where Roiumus used to stand, and caused a crack in the ground as it hit. Baby Mario looked behind him and saw Roiumus standing there, staff at the ready. Roiumus smashed the staff into Baby Mario's back, sending the hero flying into a wall face-first and slightly damaging his spine. Baby Mario slumped to the ground, but quickly got back up, only to see Roiumus standing right there. Roiumus smashed the staff into the side of Baby Mario's head, sending Baby Mario flying into the floor. Baby Mario quickly got back up and swung his hammer at Roiumus, but once again hit nothing but air. Roiumus had teleported to Baby Mario's side, and smashed his fist into the hero, sending him flying towards the center of the room. Friction barely managed to stop him just as he reached the center.

"Agh…" Baby Mario took a deep breath, and then stood up, with his hammer at the ready. Suddenly, he felt something fly past him and smash him with a staff at the same time. Baby Mario fell, but quickly got back up and turned around to see Roiumus dashing at him at inhuman speeds. Roiumus sped to the other end of the room in less than a millisecond, smashing his staff into Baby Mario along the way. He continued speedblitzing the hero for a couple more seconds, until he stopped right in front of Baby Mario, who was laying on the floor battered and beaten.

"Do you surrender?"

"Gah…" Baby Mario took one final swing with his hammer at Roiumus, but missed once again, as Roiumus teleported to the side. The enemy then smashed Baby Mario into the adjacent wall. Baby Mario slumped to the ground, but Roiumus teleported in front of the hero, grabbed him by the throat, and held him up against the wall.

"I'll ask once again…do…you…surrender?" Roiumus said menacingly.

"Y-yes…" Baby Mario barely managed to say. Roiumus dropped Baby Mario to the floor and teleported back onto his throne. "Teleporting…is cheating," Baby Mario said. "Fight me…without using any…powers…or…or super speed…"

Roiumus shook his head. "I am faster, more durable, and more magic-adept than you. Are you willing to bet you're physically stronger than me?"

"I guess…not," Baby Mario said. He took a deep breath and rose. He then made his way to in front of the throne.

"I am an Old King," Roiumus said, "the master race of this galaxy. My kind rules over tens of billions of worlds. Yours is next. What is the combination for your Gateway?"

"Gateway?"

"I believe you call it the Caelestis."

"Ah, yes, the Caelestis. Well, we're from…uh…Cordatia, so you should know."

"One of the archaeologists we captured was kind enough to provide me with the name of your world, after some persuasion, of course. Now, tell me…what is the combination for Plit's Caelestis?"

"Uh…it starts with…erm, 1969. I don't remember any numbers past that."

"Perhaps not," Roiumus said, standing up, "but they will come to you, in time. My persuasion methods have not failed me in seventy years."

"Oh, you're over seventy years old? Pretty good fighter for that age..."

"Actually, I'm 224. You didn't really think that we called ourselves the Old Kings just because we liked the name, did you?"

"Eh…guess not."

Roiumus motioned to his guards, and they reassembled to surround Baby Mario. "Take him back to the cell, and bring me the blue dinosaur."

As the guards carried him away, Baby Mario shouted to Roiumus, "You know, his name is Zipper! And he can speedblitz way better than you could ever dream of!"

* * *

Quake, Flare, and Colorful dashed to take cover behind a bush. They had successfully managed to evade all of the guards and patrols so far, and now they were just a couple meters from the castle entrance. It was guarded by four Humans holding ray guns, and the flow of traffic in and out of the castle was near-constant.

"Right now, I count twelve," Quake said. "There'll be a bigger group of guards entering in thirty seconds, too."

"Got another Stop Watch?" Flare asked.

"Yeah, but these things are expensive nowadays," Quake said. "We might need them later."

"What about a POW Block?" Colorful asked.

"No, the earthquake would cause too much noise," Quake said. "We could try our luck with a Sleepy Sheep, but if it doesn't work, our position's been made."

"Let's do it," Flare said. "If it doesn't work, we'll use an Ice Storm or something."

"Alright," Quake said. He took out and used a Sleepy Sheep, and dozens of sheep began running towards the castle entrance.

The sheep reached the guards, and began licking them. "What the heck…" a guard said. He knelt down and felt the coat of the sheep that was licking him, checking for any anomalous items. He then looked over to the Yoshis' position. Suddenly, the sheep disappeared, and all the guards instantly fell asleep.

"Move! Move!" Quake said. The three Yoshis quickly made their way inside the castle. The entrance room was much like the throne room, with a very high ceiling and a floor paved with gold. However, there were multiple stairwells going both up and down, as well as several doors to other rooms.

"Now where?" Colorful asked.

"Probably the dungeon," Flare said.

"Which is…where?" Colorful asked.

"Cover!" Quake whispered loudly. The three Yoshis ducked behind a staircase. Flare peered out from behind it, and saw ten guards escorting Baby Mario somewhere. They went through a door on the left and went down a stairwell. "Let's follow," Quake said.

The Yoshis followed the guards until they reached what seemed to be a dead end in an underground tunnel. A guard used his foot to move a rock onto a certain position, and the wall to the side began retracting to reveal the prison cell the others were in. "Hey, guys," Baby Mario said. "I'm back."

"Baby Mario!" Quake shouted. Baby Mario and the guards all turned to face the Yoshis. "Get out of the way!" Baby Mario leapt inside the cell. The guards pointed their ray guns at the Yoshis, but were unable to fire before Quake used an Ice Storm and froze the guards.

Quake, Flare, and Colorful ran up to the cell entrance and saw Mario and the others. "Guys!" Quake said.

"Quake!" Mario said. "Good timing!"

"Yeah, let's get out of here!" Luigi said. He dashed out of the prison, followed by Zipper, Baby Mario, and the rest.

"Hang on!" Baby Luigi said. "We'll need our power-ups."

"I think I know where they are," Baby Mario said. "Follow me."

Meanwhile, a servant went up to Roiumus's throne, knelt, and said, "My liege, the prisoners have escaped!"

"What?!" Roiumus stood up. "Incompetence…must I do everything myself? Regardless, they won't get far…"

* * *

The Marios and the Yoshi Squadron ducked inside a room with a computer and several shelves. "Check the shelves for our items," Mario said. "Luigi and I will guard the door."

Quake smashed open two locked chests with his fists and found all four of the Marios' hammers in there. "Here, guys!" Quake tossed the four hammers at the Marios.

"Ah, it's good to be back," Baby Mario said, stroking his hammer. He then got up on a chair and reached for the top shelf, where he found their bag of power-ups. "Got 'em, let's go."

"Hang on," Baby Luigi said. Baby Luigi grabbed his tablet from a shelf, and then pulled the chair out from under Baby Mario, who barely managed to jump off without falling. Baby Luigi pushed the chair in front of the computer desk and sat down.

"What are you doing?" Mario asked.

"Hooking my tablet up to this computer," Baby Luigi said.

"How, exactly?" Colorful asked. "Whatever systems the Old Kings use for their computers, I'm pretty sure they're extremely different from the systems we use."

"Thank you, I didn't know that," Baby Luigi sarcastically said.

"We don't exactly have a lot of time," Flare said.

"I know. Give me two minutes." Baby Luigi pressed a couple buttons on his tablet and then said, "I'm in. This is some sort of database. Seems to be a list of numbers…"

Baby Mario took a look at the tablet screen and counted the number of digits in a string of numbers. "Four, eight, eleven…I bet they're Caelestis identifiers."

"I'll download them to the tablet," Baby Luigi said. He pressed a couple buttons and said, "It's surprising they don't have a password on this machine…"

"Well, there's no text or anything to identify which Caelestis these codes lead to," Baby Mario said. "There's something like five hundred codes in this database. Maybe just one of them is important to the Old Kings, and the rest are junk."

"Well, we'll see," Baby Luigi said. "I've got 'em all downloaded. Let's go."

They quickly left the room. Mario, Luigi, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Professor Karter, Kooper, the six archaeologists part of the expedition, and the Yoshi Squadron moved swiftly, quietly, and undetected through the fortress. However, despite their precautions, they were spotted when they made it past the castle walls. "THERE!" a guard shouted. A trumpet blared, and hundreds of Roiumus's guards began running towards the group.

"Darn it, we've been made!" Baby Mario said. "Zipper, get to the Caelestis and dial back to Plit!" Zipper nodded and boosted towards the Caelestis, already out of sight the instant Baby Mario finished his sentence. "Alright, guys, let's move!"

Blasts of energy began whizzing past the group, fired from the ray guns that Roiumus's guards were carrying. The group quickly made it to the base of the hill. The Marios, as well as Flare, took defensive positions behind large stones and began shooting fireballs at the approaching army, providing cover fire for the archaeologists who dashed into the forest.

"Flare!" Mario said. "Hand us some power-ups!"

"You got it!" Flare threw a Cape Feather at Mario, and an Ice Flower at Luigi. The two grabbed and instantly used the items, granting them new powers.

"Here we go!" Mario said. He flew right into the opposing army and smashed into one of the troops. He began spinning around at several thousand rounds per minute, slicing the troop into pieces, and then he quickly began speedblitzing the rest of the army, flying from soldier to soldier faster than their energy blasts could reach him. At each soldier, he either did a quick spin to slice deep into their skin, or punched them with enough force to create a small explosion, before dashing to the next. He quickly took out dozens of soldiers, and then flew back to the forest entrance faster than the blink of an eye.

"We're clear for now!" Flare said.

"Let's go!" Baby Mario said. The group moved into the forest, quickly followed by hundreds more of Roiumus's troops.

The Marios and Flare quickly caught up with the expedition, Quake, and Colorful. The group dashed, ran, and jumped through the forest, dodging all sorts of trees and foliage. Shortly after, energy blasts began shooting at them. The guards made their way into the forest, ducking under branches, jumping over roots, and launching blasts of energy from their ray guns at the Plitians.

The expedition jumped over and ducked under energy blasts. The blasts smashed into bushes, erupting them into flames, and caused trees they hit to explode in a shower of sparks and fire.

Suddenly, six Humans teleported just above the expedition, levitating above the ground and gliding quickly enough to keep their relative position the same. The expedition quickly noticed that the Humans had on their arms the same bracelets that Roiumus and his underling had used to instantly incapacitate them, back on the other planet. The Humans moved their hands over the buttons on their bracelets, but before they could activate the wave of electricity, they were attacked by the expedition.

Mario moved so quickly from the ground to one of the Humans that it seemed he teleported; he span around at thousands of rounds per minute and sliced the Human to bits. Meanwhile, Baby Mario jumped up, held his hammer over his head, and smashed one of the Humans into the ground. Kooper got into his shell, and Luigi smashed his hammer into Kooper, sending the Koopa flying into one of the Humans and instantly destroying the enemy. Quake jumped up and slammed his fist into one of the Humans, knocking him to the ground. Quake then did a ground pound on that Human and pummeled him with his fists. Colorful quickly pulled out a small, portable whiteboard, and drew a Bullet Bill on it. The Bullet Bill then came to life and rocketed towards the Human, exploding as it hit him. One of the archaeologists pulled out a super scope and fired two shots at the remaining Human, while Flare launched a fireball at the enemy. The combination of lead and intense flames instantly knocked out the Human.

"Almost there!" Baby Luigi shouted. They exited the forest and entered into a flatland paved with grass and almost no slope to speak of. From here, it was a straight 100-meter dash to the Caelestis. In the distance, they could see a bunch of knocked-out guards, and Zipper waving.

They barely made it twenty meters before the pursuing army made it out of the forest and began firing energy blasts at them once again. Luigi fired a bolt of ice at one of the soldiers, whom Mario promptly flew to. Mario picked up the frozen soldier and smashed him like a battering ram into another soldier, destroying both. Mario then began speedblitzing the army again, taking out several soldiers each second. The soldiers decided to focus their fire on the fleeing expedition. One energy blast hit Professor Karter's leg, who cried out in pain and dropped to the ground. Kooper and another archaeologist lifted him up, but he suddenly disappeared.

"Professor Karter's been teleported away!" Kooper shouted.

"We need to cover the scientists!" Quake said. He, Flare, Luigi, and Colorful dropped to the ground. Quake pulled out a Shooting Star and shouted, "Mario!" Mario zoomed back to the Yoshis, and then Quake used the Shooting Star.

Dozens of meteors began raining down from the sky, pummeling the enemy army and creating small mushroom clouds with each impact. Some of the troops tried retreating back into the forest for cover, but the meteors effortlessly pounded through the treetops and annihilated them. By the time the bombardment was over, a mere dozen enemy soldiers stood where hundreds used to stand.

"Alright!" Mario said. "Time to clean this up!" Mario smashed into one of the troops, punched him into a tree, flew at another soldier, uppercut him into the sky, and zoomed at another soldier – when suddenly, he was intercepted.

Roiumus teleported into Mario's path, grabbed the hero, and smashed his fist into Mario's stomach, sending the hero flying into the horizon. Roiumus then teleported into Mario's path again and uppercut him, sending Mario flying into the atmosphere. The Old King then teleported above Mario and smashed his fist into him, sending the hero flying back down to the planet faster than an asteroid.

Mario smashed into the ground, sending a small mushroom cloud into the air and creating an impact crater over fifteen meters deep. "Agh…" He tried to get up, but failed and fell to the ground. His Super Cape disappeared. Roiumus teleported right beside him and snapped his fingers. Mario then suddenly disappeared.

Luigi and the Yoshi Squadron gasped. "MARIO!" Luigi shouted.

"Mwahahaha…" Roiumus chuckled. "You really thought that you could escape. How amusing. Unfortunately for you, I myself am not nearly as incompetent as those sorry excuses for soldiers that you mowed down so easily. Now, lay down your weapons and surrender."

"What did you do to Mario?!" Luigi demanded.

"Oh, he'll be staying with me for a little while longer," Roiumus said. "As will all of you!"

"I don't think so!" a voice came. Baby Mario leapt up and over the Yoshi Squadron, holding his hammer over his head. He jumped at Roiumus and smashed his hammer down. Roiumus teleported to the side, and Baby Mario's hammer slammed into the grass, knocking up dirt and sending cracks into the ground.

"You never learn, do you?" Roiumus asked. "Do you really wish to go up against my might once again?"

"Quake!" Luigi shouted. "You and the Yoshi Squadron get back to Plit! Baby Mario and I will hold this guy off!"

"You sure?" Quake asked.

"Eh, what could go wrong?"

Quake uneasily nodded, and the Yoshi Squadron dashed towards the Caelestis. Luigi and Baby Mario took out their hammers and took up battle positions.

Roiumus chuckled. "Fools! You'll learn your error soon enough."

* * *

Quake, Flare, and the rest of the expedition got up to the Caelestis. "Where are Mario, Luigi, and Baby Mario?" Zipper asked.

"Mario's gone," Quake said, "the other two are holding off Roiumus for us. Dial the Caelestis back to Plit, quickly!"

Zipper nodded, grabbed the remote, and input the numbers for Plit's Caelestis. He then put the remote back into its slot and placed his hands over the sphere. The Caelestis activated, and showed the Caelestis Agency through the wormhole.

On the other side of the wormhole, a Toad technician shouted through the intercom, "General White! There's an incoming wormhole!"

General White walked into the control room. The technician said, "The expedition is already coming through the wormhole. They say they're under attack."

General White spoke into the intercom, "Defense teams, standby." Several Humans prepped their super scopes and pointed them at the Caelestis. The Yoshi Squadron and Baby Luigi came through the wormhole.

Quake shouted, "General, we've got an extremely powerful alien hostile on the other side of that wormhole! Luigi and Baby Mario are trying to hold him off, but he's way too powerful!"

"We can't let him come through the Caelestis, then!" General White said.

"Can we cut the wormhole off from here?" Colorful asked.

"We can!" the technician said.

"Hold on!" Baby Luigi said. "What about Luigi and Baby Mario?"

After a pause, General White said, "…We'll give them a minute."

Baby Luigi and the Yoshi Squadron walked down to the bottom of the Caelestis ramp and looked through the wormhole. They all heard sounds of high-powered fighting, but could see nothing of the battle through the wormhole.

After twenty seconds, Quake asked, "Agh…Zipper, can't you just speedblitz him?!"

"Not if he's as fast as you say he is!" Zipper said.

Flare shook his head and said, "It's no hope! That guy has probably beaten them by now."

Baby Luigi opened his mouth to say something, and then paused. "Hang on…I've got an idea! Let's get down to the armory, stat!"

* * *

Roiumus infused his fist with flames and smashed it into Baby Mario, sending the hero flying backwards. Luigi jumped at Roiumus from behind him and swung his hammer, but Roiumus teleported behind Luigi and uppercut him into the air. Roiumus teleported above Luigi and thrust his fist into the hero, sending him flying down back to earth.

Baby Mario leapt up and placed his head just below Luigi. Luigi quickly reoriented himself and performed a footstool jump, giving him more altitude and placing him a couple meters from Roiumus. Baby Mario then leapt up just behind Luigi, pulled out his hammer, and smashed it into his older brother just as Luigi charged up a green missile attack, giving him more velocity. Luigi flew at Roiumus faster than a rocket, but the Old King was just too fast, and effortlessly avoided the attack.

Baby Mario anticipated Roiumus's next move. He quickly turned around and swung his hammer. Roiumus appeared out of thin air at that position, but quickly caught Baby Mario's hammer by the handle, easily wrangled control of it from Baby Mario's hands, and then smashed it into the hero's head, sending him rocketing to the ground. Roiumus then flung the hammer at sonic speeds towards Baby Mario. Baby Mario was hit head-on by his own hammer, and the impact created a large explosion and kicked a massive dust cloud up into the air.

Roiumus teleported five meters from Baby Mario, moved his hand to waist level, and moved his fingers so they were all pointing towards the center of his hand. An orb of dark energy formed in the middle of his hand. He then lifted his hand up to eye level (with the orb of energy following), and moved his hand so it was pointed towards Baby Mario. The orb of energy grew more, and Roiumus thrust his hand forward.

Before he did that, though, Luigi smashed his hammer into Roiumus's back. Roiumus jerked his hand upward, and the orb of energy flew into the sky, missing Baby Mario. Roiumus growled and teleported behind Luigi. Luigi did a frenzy punch, throwing multiple punches in quick succession, but all of them only hitting thin air. Roiumus then kicked Luigi, sending him flying upwards. Roiumus teleported just above Luigi and smashed his feet into the green hero, sending him flying back down to earth like a meteor. When Luigi was still a couple meters above the ground, Roiumus teleported a meter to the side of Luigi and smashed his fists together. Time froze as Roiumus closed his eyes and began charging up an attack. He then snapped his fingers, and just as time unfroze, thousands of small explosions occurred at Luigi's position. Luigi weakly fell to the ground, unconscious and with his hammer landing a small distance away.

"Hmph," Roiumus said. "Pitiful."

Baby Mario got up and tried to leap at Roiumus, but only managed to jump a few meters. Upon hitting the ground, he let out a small cry as pain jolted through his leg, and he slumped to the ground.

Roiumus turned to face Baby Mario. "Is this what your world has to offer? Washed-up half-heroes who can't defeat a single Old King two-on-one? I have to wonder what exactly caused your race to fall so far down the evolutionary ladder."

"Against everything my world has to offer…" Baby Mario said, "…you wouldn't even be able to move before you were annihilated."

"Perhaps so," Roiumus said. "Maybe I should go to Plit myself and see if you're telling the truth. For now…"

"Hey! Old King freak!" someone shouted. Both Baby Mario and Roiumus looked to the source of the voice, and saw Baby Luigi standing there.

"You've come back to confront me?" Roiumus asked. "Fine. Another slave to drag back to the homeworld."

"I don't think so!" Baby Luigi said. He took out a yellow, star-shaped power-up.

"A Starman!" Baby Mario gasped.

"Bah," Roiumus dismissively said. "That little trinket can't possibly match my power."

Baby Luigi just smirked and used the Starman. His body began glowing a rainbow of colors. Before Roiumus could even react, Baby Luigi had delivered a superfast punch to the Old King, knocking him into the air. Baby Luigi quickly teleported to the side of Roiumus and delivered a flurry of extremely fast punches and kicks. Roiumus recovered and teleported behind Baby Luigi, but before he could even think to attack, Baby Luigi had teleported behind Roiumus, grabbed him, and flung him into the ground. Roiumus quickly got up, teleported hundreds of meters above the ground, held his hands above his head, and began charging up a massive orb of dark energy. Roiumus flung it at Baby Luigi at massive velocities, but thanks to the powers of the Starman, Baby Luigi effortlessly shook it off. Baby Luigi then teleported above Roiumus and did a massive star powered-infused punch, sending the Old King falling back down to earth like a meteor.

Baby Luigi teleported next to Baby Mario, just as the Starman power wore off. "Yeah!" Baby Mario cheered. "You really kicked his-"

A sonic punch knocked Baby Mario out cold. "Silence!" Roiumus shouted. He sighed, and then slumped to the ground.

"You're tough," Baby Luigi said.

"So…your race DOES have some powerful abilities…" Roiumus weakly said. "Of course, only when you're using a trinket…"

"Return Mario right now," Baby Luigi said. He pointed at the Caelestis and continued, "Right through that wormhole, we've got even more Starmen. I won't hesitate to beat you senseless again."

"Beat me senseless?" Roiumus repeated. He chuckled and said, "Your attacks, while they may make you some sort of undefeatable omnipotent on your world, were laughable by Old King standards. If you hadn't initially caught me off-guard, I would've simply countered your attacks and waited for the powers of that trinket to wear off."

"Oh, please…" Baby Luigi muttered.

"Nevertheless, you did manage to harm me in a fair fight. For that, I commend you. However, I will be taking one more spoil of war…" Luigi was suddenly teleported away.

"No! Luigi!" Baby Luigi shouted.

"One warning, Plitian…when Saronial finds time to attack your world, his invasion will be absolute. No trinket in the galaxy will stop his wrath. And if we ever personally meet again…" The ground around Baby Luigi exploded. "…you will die." Roiumus teleported away.

"OWWWW…" Baby Mario shouted loudly as he got up. "Gah…my head is freaking killing me…where's Luigi?"

"Roiumus teleported him away…" Baby Luigi said. He fell to his knees and stared at the ground. He had never really stared failure in the face before.

"Well…that means…both our adult selves are gone," Baby Mario said. He then shook his head and said, "No. We have that list of Caelestis codes you downloaded. We'll explore those planets that those Caelestis lead to. We'll find them. We won today. We'll win again."

"No, Baby Mario. We didn't win. Roiumus let us live because he respected me. I only got him to respect me by using a Starman, and you know how rare they are." Baby Luigi paused. "Couldn't defeat him even with a Starman…"

"That's why we need to go out there and explore this galaxy. To train, get more powerful, find items to help us defeat the Old Kings, and rescue Mario and Luigi."

Baby Luigi looked up at Baby Mario. A few moments later, he said, "…Let's do it."

The two brothers nodded and walked through the Caelestis, back to Plit. A new adventure began.


	2. Rebellion

Baby Mario and Baby Luigi, along with dozens other Caelestis Agency personnel, sat in the briefing room of the Caelestis Agency. It was a large, rectangular, spacious room, with a long wooden table in the middle and a dozen chairs seated around it. General White, the commanding officer of the facility, walked into the room from his office. "So?" Baby Mario asked. "What's the word?"

"It took some convincing, but Princess Peach has just approved the ongoing operation of this facility," General White said. "Our standing orders are to explore the galaxy and retrieve any power-ups or technology that may aid us in the recovery of Mario, Luigi, and Professor Karter, as well as to assess the threat that this Old Empire represents and to neutralize it, if need be. To that end, I have created five teams to use the Caelestis on regular missions. The first of these teams, Caelestis Alpha, will be the front-line recon team, led by Baby Mario. The Yoshi Squadron will make up our general team, Caelestis Beta. The other three teams will be Caelestis Gamma, the military team; Caelestis Delta, the scientific team; and Caelestis Epsilon, the diplomatic team. No one will know of the existence of these teams except for the princess and her closest advisors. Let's make sure we succeed in our mission. Dismissed." General White and the Caelestis Agency personnel began leaving the briefing room.

As Baby Mario left the room and went towards his quarters, Kooper quickly caught up with him and said, "Baby Mario! If you don't mind me asking, who's going to be on Caelestis Alpha?"

"Eh," Baby Mario said, "I haven't really decided the roster yet. Right now, I only know Baby Luigi and I will be on the team. Maybe I'll add a couple other people, but I want to keep the team small."

"Let me be on the team too," Kooper said.

"Wouldn't you be more suited for the archaeological wing of Caelestis Delta?" Baby Mario asked.

"Baby Mario, Mario and Luigi weren't the only people lost that day," Kooper said. "Professor Karter was one of my mentors, probably the closest one besides Kolorado. Alpha is the frontline team. If any team's going to find out where Mario, Luigi, and the professor are, it's Alpha. That's why I want to join. Besides, as the frontline team, Alpha will need representatives from all the other Caelestis teams too."

Baby Mario considered it for a little while, and then said, "Okay. We'll rescue Mario, Luigi, and Professor Karter, together."

* * *

The next day, Caelestis Alpha, consisting of Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, and Kooper, were in the briefing room, along with General White. "Until we find an alternate source of Caelestis addresses," General White said, "we'll be exploring the planets that Baby Luigi downloaded the codes to. Your first mission is to a planet with the code seven eight four two, six three five nine, eight four two."

"Let's do it," Baby Mario said. They went to the control room, where a technician input the code into the Caelestis remote and activated it, causing a wormhole to form between Plit's Caelestis and another Caelestis tens of lightyears away. The event horizon showed a sparse forest. "Doesn't look like there's anyone in the area," Baby Mario said.

"Report back in twenty-four hours," General White said.

"Got it," Baby Mario said. He grabbed his backpack full of power-ups, food, medicine, and other essential things from a table nearby the control sphere and went down to the Caelestis room. He gazed at the event horizon of the wormhole for a few seconds. It didn't even seem like there was a wormhole. Baby Luigi's analogy was perfect. _"Like opening a door and stepping through."_ Baby Mario braced himself, though he knew he didn't need to, then stepped through the wormhole, crossing hundreds of trillions of kilometers in a single step.

Baby Mario stepped down from the Caelestis, took out his binoculars from his backpack, and surveyed the surrounding area as Baby Luigi and Kooper came through the wormhole. "Alright, let's explore," Baby Luigi said.

The Caelestis shut off. Caelestis Alpha made their way through the forest, towards the direction the sun was in. As they got farther from the Caelestis, the forest got denser. Eventually, the treetops completely blocked any light from entering, and there were tons of bushes and roots in the ground.

"I think we might've gone the wrong way," Kooper said.

"If there's any life here," Baby Luigi said, "it's probably jungle animals who want to eat us."

"Well, this code was in ol' Roiumus's database for some reason," Baby Mario said as he stepped under a thick, low-hanging branch. "There has to be something here."

Kooper got into his shell and zoomed up a nearby tree. At the top, he looked to the horizon. He squinted his eyes a bit to get a better view. There was a large valley at the edge of the forest, with what looked like villages in it. He jumped back down from the tree, and said "I think I saw a village in the distance." He pointed to the northeast. "Over there."

"Let's check it out, then," Baby Mario said. Baby Mario took out a Fire Flower and used it. He then created a fireball in the palm of his hand to illuminate the area, keeping careful to not light the forest on fire. As they made their way to the northeast, the forest got more and more sparse. After about twenty minutes of walking, light was finally able to enter the forest, so Baby Mario extinguished his fireball. After ten more minutes of walking, they made it to a massive cliff, beneath which lay the valley and the village.

"This cliff has to be at least a hundred meters high," Baby Luigi said. "How are we going to get down there…?"

Baby Mario pondered something for a moment, then asked Kooper, "Could you make it down this cliff if you rode inside your shell?"

"Yeah, I think so," Kooper said.

Baby Mario then reached into his backpack. "Good thing I brought along a couple extra shells, then," he said as he pulled out two Blue Shells. He handed one to Baby Luigi, and they put the shells on their back. "Ready?" Baby Mario asked. "Let's go!"

The three team members of Caelestis Alpha kicked off the ground to begin flying down the cliff, and then ducked inside their shells to be protected. The shells tumbled down the cliff, smashing off of the cliff side and jagged rocks on it and flying towards the ground below. After six seconds, they reached the bottom of the cliff. Kooper managed to quickly stop himself and pop out of his shell before sliding too far, but Baby Mario and Baby Luigi, who had much less experience using Koopa shells than Kooper did, slid a good ten or so meters before friction naturally stopped them and they were safe to pop out of the shells.

"Well," Baby Mario said, taking off his shell and putting it back in his backpack, "that was fun."

"Hey guys," Kooper said, "I think I found an easier way down." Sure enough, several meters from where they landed, there was a steep but traversable path heading up and down the cliff.

"…Right," Baby Mario said. "I knew about that, I just…" He sighed and said, "Let's go. The village can't be far."

The valley was so much hotter than the forest that it was almost like a desert, even with the terrain being mostly grass. The team walked slower than before in order to conserve their energy. After about ten minutes of walking, they made it to the village. It looked not unlike the village that Vircule was the leader of; buildings were constructed of gray stone, and several villagers moved about the town performing their tasks. While the village wasn't large, it wasn't small, either; it was about the size of Rose Town or Marrymore. The most striking difference was a large castle at the back of the village. Unlike the rest of the buildings, the castle seemed to be constructed out of steel and brick.

As the team entered the village, several of the villagers stopped what they were doing and stared at the team; apparently, they didn't get many visitors. One woman hesitantly approached the team and asked, "Are…are you here to trade?"

"Trade?" Baby Mario repeated. "Sure. Trading sounds good."

The woman looked visibly relieved. "Follow me, then."

She led them through the village towards the castle. As she did so, Baby Luigi whispered to Baby Mario, "This village looks very similar to the village that Roiumus captured us at."

"You think he also runs this place?" Baby Mario asked.

"Maybe. I'm just saying we should be cautious," Baby Luigi whispered back.

"No argument on that."

They went inside the castle. The floor was covered entirely by red carpet, and several chandeliers hung from the floor, illuminating the vast spaces of each room. The woman led the team up several sets of stairs, until they reached what looked to be like a meeting room with a circular table inside. There was one person seated at the table, doing what appeared to be paperwork, with two guards to the sides of him.

"Second," the woman said. "I am sorry to disturb you, but these people have come to trade."

"Ah, I see," the person said. "You may leave," he said, gesturing to the woman. She left, closing the doors behind her.

"Hi there," Baby Mario said. "My name is Mario. He's Luigi, and this is Kooper."

"Mario, Luigi, Kooper, glad to make your acquaintance," the person said. "I am Second. Please, be seated."

The team took seats around the table. "So, that's your name?" Baby Mario asked. "'Second'"?

"I used to have another name," Second said, "but I took this one when I was promoted to lieutenant ruler of this village. Our ruler is currently away. He will return soon, but I will assist you in the meantime. You say you have come to trade; what have you to offer?"

"Okay," Baby Mario said. "Bob – can I call you Bob? Sorry, it's just that Second is such an…unoriginal name. Anyway, Bob, what niche does this village specialize in?"

Second looked mildly annoyed, but chose to ignore Baby Mario's new name for him. "Niche?"

Kooper said, "Well, every village has something that it specializes in. One might specialize in farming, another might specialize in art…what does yours specialize in?"

"Ah. We are a mining village. We extract precious minerals from the ground and deliver them to the king for usage elsewhere."

"Hang on," Baby Luigi said. "Speaking of kings…do you know anyone named Roiumus?"

"Roiumus," Second repeated. "I can't say I've heard of him."

"Okay, good," Baby Luigi said. He knew there were most definitely other Old Kings besides Roiumus, but regardless of that fact, he let the statement put his mind at ease. "Carry on."

"Second," Kooper continued, "what kind of minerals do you mine?"

"Several things," Second said. "Gold, diamond, elementium…"

"Woah, hang on, sorry to interrupt again," Baby Luigi said, "…but elementium?"

"It is a most durable building material," Second said. "You have never heard of it?"

"Never," Baby Luigi said.

"Allow me to show you, then," Second said, standing up. He led the team out of the room and towards another room of the castle, where a furnace was. Second said to the operator of the furnace, "Show these foreigners the strength of elementium."

The operator nodded, He grabbed a small bar of elementium, no longer than the length of a hand, and showed it to the team. It was a dark orange color, and seemed to have a perfectly smooth surface. "This is elementium," he said. He put it onto a conveyor belt, which took the elementium into the furnace. "I am putting the furnace on full blast," he said. "Temperatures inside will reach over 6000 Kelvin."

"Seems to be some pretty advanced technology for you guys," Baby Mario said.

"We obtained this furnace by trading with a far-away village," Second said. "Continue with the demonstration."

Inside the furnace, fire filled the chamber, pounding the elementium with flames and making it hotter and hotter. After fifteen seconds, the furnace operator turned the heat down, and the conveyor belt brought the elementium back to where it started. The operator picked up the bar of elementium and showed it to the team. "See? It is still solid; not one part of it has been melted. There aren't deformities or anything of the kind. In fact, it's not even hot."

Baby Luigi took the bar of elementium, clearly in awe. "This…" he said, "this is amazing. Our strongest alloys can't take that much heat without being vaporized. What would it take for us to buy one kilogram of this stuff?"

"It is getting late," Second said, "but I'm sure we'll be able to work out a deal in the morning. In the meantime, you may keep this sample to analyze it. However, it cannot leave the castle. Is that understood?"

"Yeah," Baby Luigi said.

"Good. Now, perhaps we should go to the dining hall, and celebrate our peoples' newfound friendship."

"Sorry," Baby Mario said, "but last time I had dinner with aliens, I was captured and kidnapped. I'm not keen on repeating that."

"Very well," Second said. "I shall have guest quarters prepared for you."

"That sounds good," Baby Mario said. "Kooper, head back to the Caelestis. Inform General White we've made contact with these people, and are in negotiations for some elementium. Tell him we'll have something for him by noon tomorrow."

"Oh, and tell him to bring over some lab equipment," Baby Luigi said. "I'll need it to study this elementium in depth."

"Got it," Kooper said. He got into his shell and dashed out of the castle.

"This way," Second said, gesturing towards the guest quarters.

Several minutes later, Baby Mario and Baby Luigi had reached the guest quarters. Three beds had been prepared, as well as a workdesk, closet, bathroom, and couch. "No TV?" Baby Mario asked.

"These are the best accommodations I could prepare on short notice," Second said.

"Don't worry about it, Bob. I was only kidding." Baby Mario sat down on the couch and pulled out a notepad. "Well, seeing as there's nothing else to do, I'll begin writing my mission report."

"I guess I'll just rest until Kooper comes back with that lab equipment," Baby Luigi said. He said to Second, "You see, back in our home, it's only about 4:00 PM, so we're not ready to go to sleep yet."

Second nodded, then closed the door and left. Half an hour later, Baby Mario received a radio transmission from Kooper, informing him that he had reached the Caelestis, told General White of the situation, and that it would take a few hours to get the necessary equipment to them. Six hours after that, Baby Luigi was sound asleep, while Baby Mario had only written down about fifty words on his mission report. "Come on, think…" he muttered to himself. He never really fancied himself much of a writer, and writing the mission reports was what he considered to be the worst part of working at the Caelestis Agency.

Suddenly, he heard something from a decent distance away; it sounded like a "warp" sound. He put down his notepad, moved to the wall closest to the origin of the sound, and pressed his ear up against it. He could faintly hear talking, and then footsteps getting louder and louder.

Baby Mario rushed to Baby Luigi and rolled his younger brother off of his bed. "Baby Luigi, wake up!"

"Ow!" Baby Luigi exclaimed, unexpectedly hitting the hard floor, jolting him awake. "What was that for?!"

"Quickest way to wake you up," Baby Mario explained. "I hear footsteps, and they're getting louder."

Baby Luigi looked at his watch. "It's 2 AM on this planet."

"Exactly. I'm not saying we've got trouble, but grab your super scope just in case."

Baby Luigi nodded, dashed to his backpack, and pulled out his super scope from it, turning the safety off and quickly checking to make sure it was loaded. Now, Baby Luigi could hear the footsteps, even from the center of the room. Suddenly, the door swung open, revealing Second, two guards wielding ray guns, and another person.

"These are the foreigners," Second said to the person.

The person brushed past Second and walked inside the room, observing the two Baby Mario Bros. The person was over two meters tall, and his body was completely gray, as though it was made out of solid rock.

"Who are you?" Baby Mario asked, his finger on the trigger of his super scope.

"I am your king," the person said. "Pehram, ruler of this world and thousands others like it. You're Mario and Luigi, from the world called Plit."

"How do you know that?" Baby Luigi asked.

Pehram smiled. "Roiumus told me."

"Oh, darn…" Baby Mario muttered. He pulled the trigger. A bullet launched forth from the barrel of his super scope at a velocity close to the speed of sound. The bullet smashed into Pehram and burrowed a few inches into his body, but the Old King didn't even flinch. Baby Mario fired two more shots, but they had the same result.

Pehram smiled malevolently, and then cackled. "You cannot hope to harm me!" he said. Baby Luigi shot a worried glance at Baby Mario, who nodded. The two Baby Mario Bros began firing their super scopes as fast as they could at the Old King, who merely continued laughing. After exhausting their ammo, Baby Mario leapt towards his backpack. Pehram extended his arm out towards the backpack, and it telekinetically flew to him before Baby Mario could grab it. "Now, if you are done demonstrating how primitive your weapons are, we have some things to discuss."

* * *

Five and a half hours earlier, Kooper had made it to the Caelestis, and dialed it to Plit. He said into his radio, "Caelestis Agency, this is Kooper. Do you read?"

On the other side of the wormhole, General White said into his radio, "This is General White. I read you, Kooper. What's your status?"

"We've made contact with the people of this world," Kooper said.

"Any signs of the Old Kings?" General White asked.

"None yet, sir. The people of this planet have this stuff called elementium. Baby Luigi says that it's more durable than anything we have on Plit, including steel and titanium. We're currently in negotiations for some of it. Baby Mario seems to think we'll have concluded the negotiations by noon tomorrow. In the meantime, Baby Luigi has a small sample, which he needs some lab equipment to analyze."

"I'll prepare some scientists and portable labs to send through the Caelestis," General White said. "They should be ready in under four hours."

"I'll tell Baby Mario," Kooper said. He changed the channel on his radio and said, "Baby Mario, do you read?"

"Yeah, go ahead," came the response.

"I've told General White everything," Kooper said. "He says he'll have some scientists and lab equipment here in about four hours."

"Four hours?" Baby Mario repeated. "Baby Luigi won't like to hear that. Well, it's getting dark and there doesn't seem to be anything happening, so feel free to head back to Plit until that stuff is ready."

"Are you sure?" Kooper asked.

"Yeah, just head back and read a book or something," Baby Mario said. "We'll be fine. Besides, who knows what kind of jungle animals come out at night? Wouldn't want you facing them alone."

"Alright," Kooper said. He switched the channel back and said, "General White, with your permission, I'm going to come back to Plit until that science stuff is ready. Baby Mario has already given the okay."

"Alright," General White said.

Four hours later, Kooper, a small team of five scientists, and a transportation vehicle carrying all the equipment were back on the planet and heading towards the village. Two hours later, they got out of the jungle and made it to the cliff. "Hang on," Kooper said. The scientists stopped the transportation vehicle momentarily, while Kooper took out some binoculars and looked at the village. There were guards on and just outside the walls of the village, carrying what appeared to be ray guns. "Oh, no…"

"What is it?" a scientist asked.

"Look for yourself," Kooper said, handing the binoculars to the scientist. "See those things the guards are carrying? They're ray guns, the same kind that Roiumus's guards used to attack us while we were escaping from his castle."

"And these guards weren't here before?" the scientist asked.

"No," Kooper said. "Now that I think about it, Second said that the ruler of the village was away, and would return soon."

"You think the ruler might be an Old King?" another scientist asked.

"Maybe," Kooper said.

"Didn't you say Baby Mario and Baby Luigi were in that castle?" a scientist asked.

"Yes," Kooper said. "I have to get back to the Caelestis and call for reinforcements. You guys stay here."

"Isn't it a thirty-minute walk even without having to escort the transportation vehicle?" a scientist asked.

"Twenty-five if I move quickly," Kooper said.

"If they find us, we won't be able to hold our position for fifty minutes!" a scientist protested.

"So don't let them find you," Kooper said. "I'll be back." He ducked into his shell and zoomed towards the Caelestis.

The scientists sighed, ducked to the ground, and readied their super scopes. After fifty minutes of agonizingly long waiting, Kooper finally came back. "Did you get help?" a scientist asked.

"No, they've got at least ten guards around the Caelestis," Kooper said. "Who knows how many more are hiding in the trees."

"So what do we do?" a scientist asked.

"You guys have any military training?" Kooper asked.

"Very basic training," one scientist said.

"Okay," Kooper sighed. He took his binoculars back and observed the guards. They had every possible point of entry watched by at least two guards; no blind spots. He sighed again; this didn't look good. It subtly reminded him of the adventure he had with Mario to rescue the Star Spirits; no situation they were in on that adventure looked good. "Darn it, Mario, why'd you have to go and get yourself captured?" Kooper muttered. If Mario was here, they'd undoubtedly have busted the Baby Mario Bros out already and be making their way to the Caelestis. "Okay, you guys. We'll each take up positions on this cliff, fifty meters from each other. Dr. Evans, Dr. Robert, you go northwest. Dr. Lee and I will go southeast. Dr. Tyler, you stay here. Be sure to activate the silencers on your super scopes. Radio me when you get to your positions."

"Okay," the science team nervously said. About two minutes later, the team was in position.

"Here's the plan," Kooper said into his radio. "We'll each fire in sequence and take out one guard. If you miss, don't fire again; wait until it's your turn. Alright…Evans, fire."

A muffled gunshot was heard as a bullet flew from the cliff into the wall one guard was standing on. The guards quickly readied their weapons and looked to Evans' position. "Robert, fire," Kooper ordered. Another bullet shot from the cliff, this time hitting its target as the guard Evans missed took the bullet through the chest and fell to the ground. "Tyler, fire." Another bullet shot towards the village, but unlike Robert's lucky shot, Tyler's bullet flew a meter over the head of the guard he was aiming for. Kooper steadied his super scope on a rock, and then fired at one of the guards, managing to hit him clean through the chest. "Lee, fire." Lee's bullet hit one guard in the arm, causing him to fall to the ground. The guard used his good arm to reach for something in his pocket. "Evans, get that guy." Evans almost missed, but the bullet managed to nick the guard in the leg, causing him to drop what he was reaching for in surprise. Robert knew he was next in the sequence, so he fired without Kooper having to tell him to. The bullet hit the guard in the head, killing him. Tyler missed, Kooper got one, Lee missed, Evans got one in the arm, Robert missed, Tyler missed, Kooper finished off the one that Evans got, Lee missed, Evans got one in the leg, and then a bolt of energy exploded near Evans' position. "Alright, we've been made!" Kooper said. "Retreat back into the forest! Find some place to hide! At noon, make your way to the Caelestis. Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, and I will be waiting for you there." The scientists didn't hesitate to follow Kooper's orders, and ran back into the jungle. Multiple guards began running towards where Evans was firing from. Kooper waited until they made it there and began a pursuit into the forest, then fired at a guard on the ground, taking him out and creating a small blind spot.

Kooper ducked into his shell and flew down the cliff, zooming towards the village wall. When he got close, he jumped up to rotate his shell sideways, and then stuck onto the wall. He used his velocity to just barely make it up the ten meter wall before gravity could pull him down, and then he leapt off the wall inside the village. He got out of his shell and dusted himself off, glad to see that no one inside had seen him, and then made his way to the castle.

Kooper hid inside one of the bushes near the castle entrance. Four guards were protecting the entrance, and it didn't seem like they were going anywhere soon. Kooper sighed. He couldn't shoot them, as even with the silencer on, the gunshot could be easily heard. He would have to use one of his special abilities.

Kooper ducked into his shell and began spinning rapidly. Wind began spinning around in a small tornado around his shell. The guards, hearing the wind, readied their ray guns and looked to where Kooper was, though they couldn't see him. One guard began to approach, but he wasn't be able to get close before Kooper dashed out of the bush and hit him, ricocheting off him towards another guard, bouncing off him to another guard, and then hitting the final guard, causing them all to fall to the ground, so dizzy their heads were literally spinning. Kooper knew they wouldn't stay dazed long, so he rushed inside the castle.

Kooper decided to check the basement first and ran down a flight of stairs. He quickly came to a locked door. He saw through the window of the door a long hallway, and another locked door at the end of that hallway. He could barely make out two red and green caps behind the second locked door. Figuring he had the right address, Kooper ducked into his shell and smashed through the door, then ran down the hallway.

Meanwhile, a guard slept peacefully at his station, until a loud noise woke him up. The guard looked around fearfully for a moment, scared that Pehram or an officer would come and kill him on the spot for sleeping on the job, but when he saw nobody, he sighed in relief to himself and began to doze off again. Before he fell completely asleep again, though, he decided it might be prudent to check the life-signs sensors. A 3D representation of the castle presented itself on the console. The castle was mostly without life, because most of the guards were sleeping; only a twentieth of the full guard protected the castle at night, and even then, nearly all of them were protecting the village walls, not the castle. That's why one life sign moving towards the room Pehram had the prisoners in caught the guard's eye.

Kooper moved as quickly and quietly through the hallway as he could, but before he had covered a tenth of the hallway's total length, a loud alarm blared out throughout the castle. "Shoot," Kooper muttered. He sprinted as fast as he could to the other end of the hallway and looked through the window in the door; he could clearly make out Baby Mario and Baby Luigi, both unconscious and strapped to metallic beds of some sort.

Kooper ducked into his shell and smashed into the door at full speed, but unlike the other door, this door didn't budge. Kooper got out of his shell and saw a keypad next to the door; it must be magnetically locked. Nothing a little Fire Shell attack couldn't fix. Kooper ducked into his shell once more and began whirling around in place. Fire formed around his shell, until he slammed full speed into the door, with the same results. The door didn't budge, and the flames from the Fire Shell didn't even heat it one bit. Kooper realized that this must be an elementium door, as no material besides elementium could take that much heat without being noticeably hotter.

Suddenly, a powerful burst of plasma shot across the hallway and exploded against the door! Kooper barely managed to get into his shell before the plasma bolt exploded in his face. "Surrender or die!" a guard shouted from across the hallway.

Kooper decided to take option three. He began spinning around in place again, causing a whirlwind to form around his shell. He then span down the hallway past the door he broke down, hitting all the guards at the same time and causing them to fall to the floor dazed. Kooper went back up the staircase to the first floor and ran to the entrance, but multiple bolts of plasma shot forth from there, forcing Kooper to duck behind a wall to avoid them. He peered around the corner to see nearly a dozen guards at the entrance to the castle, and six more running towards his position. He was too exhausted to use another Dizzy Shell attack, so he made a run for one of the staircases leading upwards and quickly made it to the second floor. He then jumped out a window, falling into a bush at the base of the castle.

Kooper knew the guards would still be after him, so after jumping out of the bush, he took his shell off and flung it at full speed towards the jungle. The shell zoomed along the ground, up the village walls, past a guardsman on the walls, and then flew off into the forest. Kooper ducked back into the bush and watched silently as multiple guards took off into the forest, fooled by Kooper's ruse. He sighed and walked back into the village, grabbing a cloak along the way to conceal his face. The Old Kings had won the first round, but Kooper planned on finding a safe spot to strategize so he could win round two.

* * *

Baby Mario woke up, even though his eyes stayed closed. He couldn't remember much of what happened before he fell asleep, and on top of that, his entire body was numb. He tried getting up, only to find that he was restrained to some sort of metal and extremely uncomfortable bed. He looked to his side and saw Baby Luigi on another bed, knocked out cold. "Baby Luigi!" Baby Mario shouted. "Baby Luigi!"

Baby Luigi began to wake up. "Gah…what time is it?" he asked. He opened his eyes, then asked, "Uh…where are we?"

Baby Mario's memory slowly began to come back. "I don't know…but I remember that Old King guy attacking us. He used that same electricity thing that Roiumus used on us…and then I don't remember anything after that."

"Perfect timing," a voice came. The door's magnetic seal unlocked, and then it swung open, to reveal Pehram and two of his guards. "I have some questions I want you to answer."

"Sorry, but I just finished holding an AMA a couple days ago," Baby Mario said. "You'll have to wait for the next one."

"You may find this situation amusing. I do not," Pehram said. He held up his hand to reveal a silver device on it. He held one of the buttons on the device, and electricity surged through Baby Mario's body, causing him to scream in pain. After five seconds, Pehram released the button, and the electricity stopped. "Now, you will answer my questions."

"What do you want to know?" Baby Luigi asked.

"Second told me that there's another one of you," Pehram said. "Some sort of bipedal turtle. He tried to rescue you, but we detected him and he fled into the forest."

"Must've been one of the villagers," Baby Mario said. "No one else came with us."

"I must know everything about this person," Pehram said. "He was able to daze two groups of guards, and he is also capable of using a flame attack. What other powers does he possess?"

"We don't know anything," Baby Mario said. "Really. Honest."

"Baby Mario, you can answer to me, or you can answer to Roiumus. He already has your adult selves; handing you two over to him would round out his collection nicely."

"Where are Mario and Luigi being held?" Baby Luigi asked.

"You are in no position to make demands," Pehram said.

"Tell us where Mario and Luigi are, and we'll tell you anything you want to know," Baby Mario said. "Honest. Hey, did you know that the Koopa City Dragons are at the top of the World Baseball League? There. Now, you tell us one piece of info, and we're even."

Pehram held the button down, causing more electricity to stream into Baby Mario and make him cry out in agony. After a few seconds, Baby Luigi yelled, "STOP! I'll tell you what you want to know!"

Pehram let the button go. Baby Mario panted in relief, trying to get his breath back. "Okay…" Baby Luigi said. "He'll probably try to get reinforcements from the Caelestis. I would recommend moving most of your palace guard to the Caelestis to prevent him from dialing to Plit."

"Do you take me for a fool?" Pehram snarled.

"No," Baby Luigi said. "Think about it. By himself, there's no way for him to rescue us. He'd have to get to the Caelestis to call for reinforcements." Pehram narrowed his eyes, then nodded in suspicion and left the room.

After leaving, he closed the door and activated the magnetic lock on it. A nearby guard asked, "My liege…?"

Pehram thought for a moment, then said, "Divert most of the Gateway guard to the palace."

"…But, my liege-"

"The Plitians have obviously given us misinformation designed to manipulate our course of action to make it easier for them to be rescued," Pehram said. "Who truthfully tells their plan to the enemy? Move the Gateway guard, and set up an anti-teleportation field within the palace. They have a plan…but we shall thwart it."

* * *

Kooper silently walked through the torch-lit village, amongst its small stone homes and mud huts, his cloak concealing his identity from any of the Old King's guards, though he hadn't encountered any yet. The situation went from bad to worse. The Old Kings knew that Kooper was here, and though he had tricked them into chasing his shell into the jungle, he knew that would only buy him a few hours; less if they had a sensor grid in place. He had to get back to Plit to call in reinforcements…but how?

"How much longer are we to be slaves?!" Kooper heard a male voice from within a hut.

"Quiet yourself!" a female voice came. "They will hear you!"

"Let them hear me!" the male voice said. "Let them know that I am not content as a slave!"

Kooper entered the hut the voices were coming from. Both of the people inside quickly became silent when they saw him. "Please!" the girl eventually said. "Do not harm us! He does not know what he's saying!"

"Calm down," Kooper said, removing his hood. "I won't hurt you."

The girl sighed. Kooper recognized her as the one who greeted the team when they first entered the village. "You're one of the foreigners," she breathed in relief.

"Yes," Kooper said. "I couldn't help but overhear what he was saying."

"Abel has long believed that we should overthrow the rulers and free ourselves from their grasp," the girl said.

"Yes!" Abel said. "We've been slaves for a millennium. It's time to break free of our bonds!"

The woman said to him, "Hundreds before you have been killed by the rulers for saying those exact words." She turned to Kooper and introduced herself, saying, "My name is Shauna. I work as a cataloguer in the mines, making sure that adequate supplies of each mineral are being mined."

"Oh, I'm Kooper." Kooper extended his arm to shake her hand, but then retracted it when she just looked at it in confusion. They must have different customs. "I'm an explorer and archeologist from the world of Plit."

"You come from a different planet?" Abel asked.

"Yes." Kooper quickly changed the subject to the rest of his team. "Listen, I had two others with me. Mario and Luigi are their names. Apparently, they've been captured by the Old Kings. I think they're being held in the palace."

Abel nodded. "Pehram would most likely take them to the interrogation room." At Kooper's confused look, Abel clarified, "Pehram is our ruler. One you call an Old King."

"Ah. Look, I already tried to get them out of there, but I couldn't before they sounded the alarm. I need help to rescue my friends."

"I'm sorry, you'll have to look elsewhere," Shauna said, quickly turning around.

"Where else can I look?!" Kooper asked. "I don't have much time. If this Pehram guy learns what he wants to from Mario and Luigi, he could launch an attack on my world. I need to rescue them before it comes to that."

"You want us to start a rebellion?" Abel asked, a glint in his eyes.

"Maybe not something so big," Kooper said, "but I just need enough help to get back to the Caelestis and bring reinforcements from my world."

"We are not interested in defying our masters," Shauna said.

"Why not?" Kooper pressed. "You said you're slaves. Don't you want to be free?"

"That is not the point," Shauna said, turning back to Kooper. "Five hundred years ago, our ancestors attempted what you are trying to get us to do. They rallied an army of thousands, and stormed Pehram's castle while he was away. They overwhelmed the palace guard, captured the castle, and declared all of us free. Less than two days later, Pehram returned. He used his powers to instantly wipe out the army. He then killed over 99% of our population. Days before, we had numbered in the millions. In a few short hours, Pehram culled our numbers to just ten thousand. That was the price of our defiance. I am not eager to repeat that."

"Maybe we can succeed where your ancestors failed," Kooper said.

"How?" Abel asked.

"We've fought the Old Kings and come out on top before," Kooper said. "Well, we fought them once before…and we didn't really win, we just tied…but if we can just capture the Caelestis, we can get my people to supply us with more items and weapons we can use to defeat Pehram."

"Now that Pehram is aware of your presence," Shauna said, "he will have the Gateway…erm, Caelestis, heavily guarded. Getting within a hundred meters will be an impossible task."

"Can you guys use power-ups?" Kooper asked.

"What are power-ups?" Abel asked.

"They're items that, when used, grant you special powers," Kooper said. "For example, a Fire Flower would grant you the ability to shoot fire from your hand. Ordinary Koopas like me can't use them, but any Human can."

"There are legends of trinkets such as these," Shauna said. "There are strange items that pass through this village on the way to Pehram, such as fungus and flowers. They don't seem to serve any practical purpose, yet Pehram refuses to tell even his most trusted advisors what they are. Perhaps they are what you speak of."

Mushrooms and flowers. Sounds about right. "Perhaps," Kooper said. "Do you know where any of these items are?"

Abel nodded. "A small shipment came through this evening, just before Pehram returned. They are currently in a stone house close to the entrance of the village. We gave the house to the four guards escorting the shipment, for them to rest the night. The shipment will be delivered to Pehram in the morning."

"Four guards," Kooper repeated. "…Nothing I can't handle. For now, spread the word. You're going to win your freedom." Kooper dashed out of the hut, while Abel and Shauna shrugged to each other and left as well.

Kooper dashed to the house that he thought was the most likely to have the power-ups inside, and considered his options. Without his shell, he couldn't use the Dizzy Shell or Fire Shell techniques – not that he had enough strength left to use them even if he had his shell. Kooper didn't even consider just shooting the guards; firing a super scope in the middle of Old King-infested territory was a bad idea all around, as even with the silencer on, it would make too much noise. He learned a bit about hand-to-hand combat during his adventure with Mario, but not much. It would have to do.

Kooper peered inside the house and saw two guards standing in front of a steel crate, each carrying ray guns. The other two guards were asleep in makeshift beds. If he could get the drop on them…

Kooper jumped on top of a nearby stack of boxes, then grabbed onto the roof of the house and pulled himself up. The roof was a flat, thin slab of rock. Kooper felt the rock for any weak spots, when eventually, he came upon a small crack. He lifted his foot up, and then threw his entire body weight onto the crack.

A small part of the roof around where the crack was collapsed, causing Kooper to tumble down onto the floor, hitting one of the guards on the way and dragging him down with him. Kooper quickly reoriented himself and smashed his fist into the guard's face multiple times, then grabbed the guard's gun and rolled to the side to avoid a plasma bolt from the other guard's weapon. Kooper fumbled around with the alien weapon for a moment, before finding a button. He aimed the gun at the guard and pressed the button. A bolt of plasma shot out from the tip of the pistol and smashed into the guard, incinerating his armor and throwing him a meter back.

Two more plasma bolts whizzed past Kooper's head, from the previously slumbering guards who had awoken due to the commotion from the fight. Kooper ducked to the ground and fired a plasma bolt at one guard, then rolled to the right to dodge a plasma bolt which nearly hit him and then fired a plasma bolt at the other guard, dispatching the two of them in record time.

Kooper raised to his feet and sighed in relief, glad that these ray guns were relatively quiet compared to his super scope. Having never seen one of these up close before, he examined the ray gun. It was smaller and obviously much more advanced than a super scope. It was like a handgun, but completely sleek and silver. At the back of the gun was a small orb which seemed to contain pulsing energy within. Kooper then overlooked the steel crate. He reached down and grabbed two keys from the corpses of the guards, then inserted the keys into keyholes at either side of the crate, turned the keys, and then opened the crate to reveal several Fire and Ice Flowers. "Oh, yes. These'll do," Kooper said to himself.

* * *

Within a short hour, just under half of the population of the village had been told about the upcoming rebellion. Luckily, none of them were very loyal to their enslavers, but most were fearful about the possibility and consequences of failure. "I still believe this is a fool's plan," Shauna said to Abel.

"How much longer do you want to be a slave?" Abel asked. "I am ready to die for my freedom."

"Just as a million died five centuries ago?" Shauna asked.

"Don't you see? Kooper and the Plitians represent the best chance for us to be free. They've battled the rulers before and survived. We outnumber the rulers. Pehram has concluded that after what happened five hundred years ago, we would never dare try to rebel again. He will be unprepared, and with the Plitians on our side, victory is assured."

"Okay. Let us imagine that we somehow take the Caelestis and get Kooper's people to help. Let's further imagine that we liberate the village and storm the palace. What then is preventing Pehram from annihilating us like he did to our ancestors?"

"Kooper knows the capabilities of the Old Kings. He would not engage us in open warfare with them if he didn't think victory was possible."

"You're placing an awful lot of trust in this alien, Abel. I believe our collective desire for freedom is clouding our judgment. What else could cause us to so readily take up arms against the rulers on the word of an alien we know nothing about?"

"For one thousand years we have been enslaved, beaten, and killed by the rulers. No more."

Kooper ran up to the two at the moment, carrying a load of power-ups. "I'm back. How many people have you spread the word to?"

"We each informed twelve people," Shauna said. "Then those people informed others, and those others informed others. I believe we have two hundred ready to rebel."

"Good. Well, I've got eight power-ups, meaning you'll have to find six others to come and attack the Caelestis with us."

"I already have some candidates in mind," Abel said.

Suddenly, a shrill whirring sound was heard overhead. The three looked skyward and saw a sleek, dark orange teardrop-shaped aircraft flying towards the palace. "What are they doing?" Kooper asked.

"They're moving guards from the Caelestis to the palace…" Shauna said in disbelief.

"Are you serious?" Kooper asked. "What could compel them to do that?"

"If Pehram believes you intend to infiltrate the palace a second time," Abel said, "he would move as many guards as possible to try and capture you when you do."

"Well, that'd be the least logical of my options!" Kooper said. "Oh well. Let's not look a gift horse in the mouth. How many guards will be left at the Caelestis?"

"Ten, perhaps twelve," Shauna said.

"Then we outnumber them," Kooper said, smiling. "Go grab whoever you want to bring on this mission." He then took out his radio and said into it, "Evans, Tyler, do you read?"

After a short moment, a voice came out from the radio, "This is Evans. I read you, Kooper."

"Where are you?" Kooper asked.

"I'd say about a mile southwest of the Caelestis," Evans said. "We barely lost the guys chasing us, and have been sticking together since. What about you? Have you rescued the Mario Bros?"

"Not quite," Kooper said. "Listen; try to stay where you are. In about 85 minutes, head to the Caelestis. A group of villagers and I are going to attack the guards there, and it'll take us about a hundred minutes to reach it. Don't worry; for some reason, the Old Kings lowered the guard around the Caelestis, so we actually outnumber them."

"Should I remind you that none of us have any sizable military training?" Evans asked.

"Nah," Kooper responded. He turned his radio off just as Abel returned with six other villagers. Kooper handed out the Fire and Ice Flowers to them and said, "Don't use them just yet. I'll tell you when. Alright, let's get out of here."

"The guards on the village walls will notice us leaving," Shauna said.

"Well then, we'll need a distraction," Kooper said.

Shortly after, Kooper and the eight villagers were hiding just outside the entrance to the village, which was guarded by four guards, two on each side. A sizable group of villagers walked past, having a loud conversation within earshot of the guards. One guard walked up to them and stopped them in their paths. "Why are you breaking curfew?" the guard demanded.

"We were not aware a curfew was in place," one of the villagers innocently said.

"I am positive you are telling the truth," the guard said, forcing a smile onto his face. "Regardless, you must all return to your homes immediately."

"We wish to converse amongst ourselves more," another villager said. "Who are we harming?"

The guard's fake smile vanished. "Return home now."

"No!" the villagers said in unison. They scattered and began running around everywhere.

"You two!" the guard barked at two of the other guards protecting the entrance. "Help control these people!" The guards nodded, readied their staff weapons, and chased after the villagers.

"That's our chance!" Kooper said. They emerged from their hiding place and ran to the entrance. Kooper smashed his fist into the one remaining guard, causing the guard to collapse to the ground, unconscious. "Let's go!" Kooper grabbed the guard's ray gun, and then the group made a run for it towards the Caelestis. After well over an hour, they made it to near the Caelestis. They hid in the bushes, while Kooper took out his binoculars and scanned the area. There were two guards standing behind the Caelestis, and four in front of it. "I count six," Kooper said.

"Pehram would not leave so few to guard the Caelestis," Shauna said. "There must be more hiding in the trees."

Kooper looked up towards one of the trees, and saw a guard sitting on a branch dozing off. "Yeah, I see one." Kooper activated his radio and said, "Evans, what's going on?"

"You might want to get a bit further down," Evans said. "I can see you from here."

Kooper heeded Evans' advice and lowered himself into the bush he was hiding in. "Where are you?"

"On the opposite side of the clearing from you," Evans responded.

"Do you have a pair of binoculars?"

"Yeah, I think so. Um…" The sound of a hand ruffling through a bag could be heard through the radio. "…yeah, here they are."

"Can you spot any guards in the trees?"

"…I see one, but he looks more like he's sleeping than guarding anything."

"Well, it's almost 5 AM on this planet. Alright, here's the plan. Each of you, pick a target. On my mark, fire."

"Got it."

"Here," Kooper said, handing Shauna his super scope.

"What do I do with this?" Shauna asked.

"Pick a target, point the gun at him, and then press the trigger to fire," Kooper said. "It's like this ray gun here, only it uses a lead bullet instead of an energy bolt."

"Okay," Shauna said uncertainly.

"Here we go. 3…2…1…mark." Five bullets and a bolt of plasma shot out from the bushes towards the six guards around the Caelestis. One bullet hit the guard closest to the scientists' position. Kooper's plasma bolt hit one of the guards on the backside of the Caelestis. The other four bullets missed. The guards instantly pointed their ray guns towards the bushes. One guard hiding in the trees, who wasn't taking his duty seriously and was sleeping on the job, was so startled by the sudden noise that he comically fell out of the tree and smashed into the hard dirt below, knocking him out cold. Kooper, Shauna, and the four scientists moved into the clearing and scattered. They all fired their weapons once more, with two bullets hitting two guards in the head, two others missing, Kooper's plasma bolt smashing into the chest of another guard, and the enemy guards' plasma bolts barely missing the villagers. Shauna fired another bullet at the last remaining guard on the ground, hitting his leg and forcing him to collapse to the ground.

A guard in a tree fired at Kooper from above, the energy blast smashing and exploding against the ground dangerously close to the Koopa. Dr. Tyler raised his super scope and fired a bullet at the guard. The bullet only barely nicked the guard in the arm, but it delivered enough momentum to knock the guard out of the tree and send him plummeting to the ground. Kooper raised his super scope and fired at the guard in the tree he had spotted before the attack began, hitting the guard square in the chest and making him fall too. The final guard launched a plasma bolt at Dr. Robert, blasting off the scientist's hand. Shauna quickly turned and fired her super scope at this final guard, hitting him in the leg and causing him to join his other fallen brethren.

The group tensed for a few long moments, then Kooper said, "That's it. I think we won. We captured the Caelestis. Didn't even have to use the power-ups!"

"Dial home as quickly as possible!" Dr. Evans said. "Robert needs a medic!"

"Right." Kooper grabbed the remote from the control sphere, glad to see that none of the guards had taken it with them back to the palace, and input the numbers for Plit's Caelestis into it.

As the wormhole formed, Kooper said into his radio, "Caelestis Agency, this is Kooper! We're coming through! Have a medical team ready!"

On the other side of the wormhole, General White said to a technician, "Do it." The technician grabbed a phone and summoned a medical team to the embarkation room.

General White left the control room and came down to the embarkation room as Kooper, the scientists, and the villagers came through. "Kooper, what's the meaning of this?" he asked as the medical team grabbed Dr. Robert and wheeled him off to the infirmary.

"It's the Old Kings, sir," Kooper said. "They've conquered the village we were at, and captured the Baby Mario Bros."

"Who are these people?" General White asked, motioning to the villagers.

"They're from the village," Kooper said. "About a millennium ago, the Old Kings enslaved them. They've agreed to help us mount a rebellion to overthrow the Old Kings and rescue the Baby Mario Bros. There are eight of them here, and hundreds back in the village waiting for our word."

"Kooper, I can't commit enough manpower to win a civil war," General White said, "much less one against the Old Kings."

Abel said, "There is only one ruler in the village, and his guards."

"How many guards does he have?" General White asked.

"Perhaps a hundred," Shauna said.

"That's half of how many people we've got ready to rebel," Kooper said. "We just need guns to supply them with."

"You want me to prep two hundred super scopes on short notice?" General White asked.

"I already tried infiltration," Kooper said. "They found me before I even reached the Mario Bros. An attack is our only choice."

"Didn't the Baby Mario Bros report that Roiumus was capable of super speed, teleportation, and freezing time?" General White asked. "Who is to say that this Old King is any weaker?"

"General, all you have to do is commit a couple hundred super scopes," Kooper said. "You don't even have to commit any troops. If this mission goes bad, all Plit has to lose is…what, five thousand blue coins? That's nothing compared to the total cost of running the Caelestis Agency, and if we don't even try…Baby Mario and Baby Luigi are gone."

General White thought it over for a moment, then said, "You're right. Baby Mario and Baby Luigi are in enemy hands, and possess extremely valuable intel about Plit and its defenses which we cannot allow the Old Kings to get ahold of. We should undertake any means necessary to get them back. The Yoshi Squadron is off-world, but I'll get Caelestis Gamma and a number of soldiers ready to attack within two hours. In the meantime, we'll debrief."

* * *

Ninety minutes later, Pehram was sitting in his throne at the center of his palace. The throne room was a dimly-lit rectangular room with red carpet, Pehram's black throne at the end of the room, and large double doors on the opposite side. Suddenly, a guard ran into Pehram's throne room. "My liege!" he shouted. "The troops you left at the Gateway has been destroyed!"

"What?!" Pehram shouted as he stood up. "How?!"

"The guards that were in the jungle say they heard explosions, but before they could reach the Gateway, the attackers were gone and your soldiers had been killed."

Pehram sighed, trying to contain his anger, and said, "Did you get the address that the Gateway was dialed to?"

"Yes, it is still in the remote," the guard said.

"Good," Pehram said, calming himself. "Prepare a 200 gigaton bomb for delivery to their world."

"Yes, my liege," the guard said.

"Oh, and after you do that, move the Gateway to a more secure facility. If it had been guarded from the beginning, this would have never happened." The soldier bowed and left. Pehram left the room as well, traveling down the hallways and staircases to the room he had the Baby Mario Bros imprisoned in. He unlocked the door and stormed in, rudely awakening the brothers from their sleep.

"You deceived me," Pehram said, pulling back a sleeve on his arm and preparing to press the buttons on his silver bracelet.

"What happened?" Baby Luigi asked.

"Your friend got to the Gateway and escaped back to Plit," Pehram said.

"Didn't I tell you to increase the Caelestis guard?" Baby Luigi asked. "But…you assumed I was lying, so I think you moved the Caelestis guard here to the palace. I never deceived you. It was your inclination to believe I was deceiving you that let Kooper escape."

"Oh, don't worry," Pehram said. "My guards are preparing a weapon of mass destruction to send to your world. This 'Kooper' will not survive for much longer. In the meantime, you shall be gravely punished." Pehram pressed one of the buttons with such force that it jammed. Electricity surged into Baby Luigi's body, causing him to scream out in pain.

"STOP!" Baby Mario shouted.

"This special type of electricity will ensure that your brother does not die, but he will be in extreme pain," Pehram said, a malevolent grin spreading across his face, "and you will be forced to watch him suffer, powerless to interfere."

"JUST STOP! I'LL DO ANYTHING!" Baby Mario shouted.

"Once the weapon has been delivered, you will be taken to your world to see what destruction it has wrought. After that, I will personally take you to Saronial, and you will join your older selves in unimaginable pain and torment." Pehram cackled, then left the room.

"COME BACK!" Baby Mario shouted. Baby Mario pushed against his restraints as hard as he could, but they didn't budge. He sighed and looked at his brother, writhing in agony. He had to do something.

* * *

Half an hour later, Kooper, the villagers, and Caelestis Gamma were in the Caelestis room. Kooper had gotten a new shell, and they were all holding super scopes and were clad in forest-camo gear. Caelestis Gamma consisted of eight highly-trained special ops soldiers. The commanding officer of the unit, Colonel Redington, was a red-capped elite Toad who once commanded a mission into the Koopa Kingdom to clear the way for the Mario Bros. Colonel Redington's position took a Bullet Bill, and the squadron was forced to retreat without him. He then spent two months in the Koopa Kingdom, evading and sabotaging the enemy until Mario and Luigi rescued him and got him back to Toad Town safely. If anyone thought that all Toads were cowards, the colonel proved them wrong.

"Gamma ready for deployment!" Colonel Redington shouted to General White.

In the control room overlooking the Caelestis room, General White nodded and said to a nearby technician, "Dial the Caelestis." The technician input the numbers in the control remote.

The wormhole formed within the Caelestis, dazzling everyone for a short moment. On the other side, there was a large, missile-shaped bomb, and multiple guards. The guards grabbed their ray guns and ran towards the Caelestis.

Two soldiers from Caelestis Gamma grabbed Bob-ombs and chucked them through the Caelestis. Everyone on the Plit side of the wormhole ducked to the ground and took cover. The Bob-ombs exploded lightyears away, vaporizing the enemy guards.

Large double doors on the opposite of the Caelestis room opened up, revealing a massive runway underneath the control room. Four Supersonic Air Superiority Fighters sat parked in the runway. A Supersonic Air Superiority Fighter, or a SASF for short (pronounced sas-eff), were the standard fighter used on Mushroom Kingdom airships and were equipped with multiple guns and bombs. Like the Old Kings' aircraft, a SASF was teardrop-shaped to maximize aerodynamic efficiency. Unlike the Old Kings' aircraft, a SASF was dark gray in color, constructed out of tough steel (the Old Kings' aircraft were probably constructed from elementium).

"SASFs!" Kooper said. "We're pulling out the heavy weaponry for this operation."

"Everyone into the fighters now!" Colonel Redington shouted. Caelestis Gamma divided into two and jumped inside two SASFs, while Kooper led half the villagers into one SASFs and jumped into another with the rest of the villagers.

"Ready," the SASF pilots said.

"You have a go," General White said.

The SASFs levitated into the air, and then one-by-one zoomed into the Caelestis. Once on the other side, they made a steep ascent into the sky, and then flew over the village. "Sensors show over twenty guards on the village walls," the pilot of Kooper's SASF said.

The SASFs separated, each one flying towards a corner of the village. Multiple bullets shot out from each SASF, each one hitting a guard and killing him. A few seconds later, all the guards were killed. The two SASFs containing the villagers landed in a small clearing inside the village, while the other two began patrolling the skies around the village.

Kooper opened a large case, revealing dozens of Super Scopes inside. "Alright, pass these out to anyone who can fight," Kooper said, handing Super Scopes to each of the villagers. The villagers ran out of the SASF and began distributing the weapons to their fellow rebels.

Meanwhile, Pehram was in his throne room watching the attack from a sensors console. A guard ran up to Pehram in a panic and said, "My liege! The Plitians have attacked! Four aircraft-"

"I know they've attacked!" Pehram angrily shouted, cutting off the soldier.

"Shall we scramble our fighters to destroy them?" the soldier asked.

"No," Pehram said. "I will deal with this myself. Lift the anti-teleportation field around the castle."

"Yes, my liege," the soldier said, bowing.

"Oh, and put the reactor on full strength. I want more power." The soldier bowed again and left.

* * *

Electricity was still coursing through Baby Luigi's body, causing the scientist excruciating pain. By now Baby Luigi was unconscious and no longer screaming, though his body was still twitching and writhing in pain. Baby Mario continued fighting against his restraints, but barely making any progress.

Suddenly, he heard something from the surface, like an explosion. _"Rescue?"_ Baby Mario thought. The possibility that rescue may be at hand caused adrenaline to pump through Baby Mario's body, giving him renewed strength. He took a deep breath, and then pushed against the steel restraints as hard as he could. Slowly, they began giving way and buckling, until they snapped and Baby Mario tumbled to the floor, free. "YES!"

Baby Mario quickly got to his feet and grabbed Baby Luigi. The instant he did, though, the electricity shocking his brother coursed over to him as well, causing him to scream in pain and fall backwards. "AUGH! Dang, that hurt…" Baby Mario muttered. He looked to the side and saw a small gray machine, with wires leading into the metallic bed Baby Luigi was trapped on. _"Maybe that's what's generating the electricity,"_ Baby Mario thought. He picked up the machine and threw it into the door, causing it to explode in a self-destruction. The sudden surge of electricity caused the magnetic lock on the door to cease, and Baby Luigi's body stopped spasming. "Baby Luigi?"

"Ugh…" Baby Luigi mumbled. "It…it's over."

"Not quite yet," Baby Mario said, dashing to his twin brother. "Come on, I think they might be trying to rescue us. Let's get you out of this thing." With Baby Mario's help, Baby Luigi managed to snap the restraints and free himself too.

"Ow…I never want to have to go through that again…" Baby Luigi said.

"I'll make sure you never do," Baby Mario said. "Let's get out of here."

Baby Mario and Baby Luigi ran to the door. Baby Mario pushed on the door, but it barely budged. He pushed even harder, and the door creaked open. "Come on."

The Baby Mario Bros snuck through the hallway until they got up to a staircase and made it to the first floor. Baby Mario looked out across the room and saw that it was clear. "Okay. Let's try and find our power-ups," Baby Mario whispered to Baby Luigi. Baby Luigi was still a bit rattled from all the torture, so he just nodded.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Kooper and Caelestis Gamma were standing near a SASF. "We've got most of the men in the village outfitted with Super Scopes," Kooper said.

"It seems most of the guards are positioned in the castle," one of Caelestis Gamma's members said.

"I'm more concerned about the Old King hiding in there," Colonel Redington said. He said to Kooper, "If he's as powerful as you say he is, why hasn't he massacred us all by now?"

"I don't know," Kooper said. "Maybe he's not as powerful as Roiumus was."

"The villagers said he's powerful enough to wipe out armies instantly," another Caelestis Gamma troop said.

"Primitive armies," Kooper corrected. "We have to attack now. Baby Mario and Baby Luigi are still inside the castle."

"Right," Colonel Redington said. "On my mark, the villagers will charge inside the castle."

"Okay," Kooper said. He went to the front of the castle, where dozens of villagers with guns were lined up. "Ready?"

"Ready as we'll ever be," Shauna said.

A voice came from Kooper's radio. "Attack." The villagers charged into the castle and were met with energy blasts from guards.

* * *

Baby Mario and Baby Luigi were on the second floor of the castle, searching for their backpacks. They were currently ransacking a random room, when Baby Mario found his backpack. "Found it!" Baby Mario said. "Thankfully, all our stuff is still here, including my hammer."

"Well, what do we have here?" a voice came. Baby Mario and Baby Luigi looked to the door to see Pehram standing there. "Escaped, did you? Too bad. I guess I'll just have to kill you."

Baby Mario took out a Cape Feather and said, "I wouldn't bet on it."

"Typical Human arrogance," Pehram said. "If you truly wish to test your power against mine, then so be it."

After all the torture he had just gone through, Baby Luigi was in no condition to fight, so Baby Mario said to him, "Get out of here. Meet up with Kooper and get off this planet." Baby Luigi nodded and dashed away.

"Your move," Pehram said.

Baby Mario used the Cape Feather, causing him to gain a cape on his back that granted him the ability to fly, as well as a massive boost in speed. Baby Mario rocketed towards Pehram and slammed his fist into the enemy's face. Pehram caught the attack with his hand and smashed his fist into Baby Mario's stomach, knocking the hero back a few feet. Baby Mario got up, drew his hammer, and flew at Pehram again, smashing the steel hammerhead into Pehram's chest at high velocity. Pehram stumbled back, and Baby Mario took the opportunity to swing his hammer again at Pehram's head. Pehram ducked under the attack and grabbed Baby Mario telekinetically, throwing him into the other end of the room.

Baby Mario got up and took the brute force way again, zooming towards Pehram and smashing his hammer into the Old King overhead. Pehram blocked the blow with his arms. Baby Mario took his hammer and swung it sideways at Pehram, knocking the Old King several feet away. Baby Mario put his hands to his side, and a fireball began forming in between his hands. When it was the size of a beach ball, Baby Mario flung it towards Pehram. The heat of the fireball caused an explosion, causing smoke to fill the room.

Pehram floated upwards, and energy exploded from his body, dissipating the smoke and causing a faint aura to appear around him. Baby Mario readied his hammer, but Pehram teleported behind Baby Mario and punched him, sending him stumbling forward. Baby Mario leapt towards Pehram's position and swung his hammer, but hit only air, as Pehram teleported to the side and kicked Baby Mario's hammer out of his hands. Baby Mario punched Pehram with all the force he could muster, but Pehram caught the attack with one hand and then punched Baby Mario in the head with his other fist. Baby Mario stumbled backwards and then launched multiple fireballs from his hands at the Old King. Pehram swiftly teleported to avoid each fireball, getting closer to Baby Mario with each teleport, and then teleported right in front of Baby Mario and uppercut Baby Mario's jaw, causing Baby Mario to flip backwards from the force. Baby Mario quickly recovered and punched Pehram again, but Pehram telekinetically grabbed Baby Mario's hammer and blocked the blow using the hammerhead, then smashed the hammer into Baby Mario's chest, sending the hero flying.

As Baby Mario tried to get up, Pehram laughed and said, "Even at my weakest, you can't hold a candle to me. As soon as that idiot soldier does what I told him to do, you and your little rebellion are over."

Baby Mario managed to stand up and said, "We'll just see about that."

"Defiant to the end, eh? Well, then…let's end this."

* * *

Baby Luigi had managed to hook up his tablet to a computer terminal in the fortress, and found the quickest way out. He ran down a hallway that led to a door, behind which was just one twenty meter long hallway that led to the exit and freedom.

Meanwhile, the soldier that Pehram had ordered to boost the reactor power was walking to the reactor room. As he came down a place where two hallways intersected, he saw Baby Luigi running to the exit. "You!" he shouted, as he pointed his ray gun at Baby Luigi. "Stop there!"

Baby Luigi turned around, then ducked to the side as a plasma bolt zoomed out from the soldier's ray gun and incinerated the ground it hit. Baby Luigi took out his super scope and fired two shots at the guard, both of them hitting and taking out the soldier.

Baby Luigi sighed in relief, when suddenly, the door behind him exploded! Baby Luigi fell to the ground in surprise. Smoke filled the room, and multiple Humans wielding super scope began pouring into the room. "Baby Luigi!" a voice came. Baby Luigi felt hands on him that helped him to get up, and when the smoke cleared, he saw Kooper!

"Kooper!" Baby Luigi exclaimed. "Boy, am I glad to see you."

"Same here," Kooper said. "I managed to start a rebellion to bust you guys out of here. Speaking of which, where's Baby Mario?"

"He's fighting the Old King," Baby Luigi said. "Did you bring any power-ups? We have to help him!"

"Where are they?" Kooper asked.

"At the very back of the castle," Baby Luigi said. "I can show you where. Come on, we have to hurry!"

"Wait!" Kooper said. "I have a better plan."

* * *

Baby Mario flew backwards into a wall, the collision causing a small explosion to occur. With the Cape Feather's powers long gone, Baby Mario slumped to the ground and struggled to get up as Pehram slowly approached him.

"Did you honestly believe you could defeat me?" Pehram asked. Baby Mario managed to get to his feet as the Old King closed in. "I have seen people of your kind commit many acts of foolishness…" Baby Mario tried to punch Pehram. Pehram blocked the attack and telekinetically threw Baby Mario to the side. "…but challenging me alone has to be the most foolish thing I've ever seen a Human do."

Baby Mario managed to stand again, ignoring the debilitating pain that was wracking his entire body. Without the powers of the Cape Feather, the battle was over, and he knew it. All he could do now was try and buy enough time for Baby Luigi to escape.

"Although…" Pehram continued, "…the powers of that trinket you used were impressive. If I had gone easy on you, as I originally intended to do, I must admit that we may have tied."

Baby Mario leapt at Pehram in one final attempt to turn the tide. He pulled his fist back and prepared to slam it into the enemy's head, but found that he was unable to move. Pehram used his telekinetic abilities to hold Baby Mario in place in midair.

"For such a worthy opponent, I shall make your death quick."

Baby Mario's body began to heat up. Within seconds, it felt like he had a terrible fever over his entire body. Red began to cloud his vision as he felt his blood begin to boil and his bones begin to deform from the heat.

Suddenly, the wall behind them exploded! Pehram's concentration was averted, causing Baby Mario to drop to the floor and his body to quickly return to its normal temperature. Baby Mario turned to the explosion and saw a SASF piloted by Baby Luigi and Kooper hovering behind the destroyed wall!

"Baby Mario!" Baby Luigi shouted. "Watch out!"

Baby Mario mustered all his strength to leap away as a Bullet Bill was fired from the SASF. The Bullet Bill rocketed into Pehram and detonated, causing a massive explosion to fill the room. Baby Luigi landed the SASF, and he and Kooper dashed inside. As the smoke began to dissipate, they saw a figure slowly getting up.

"Is that you, Baby Mario?" Kooper asked.

The smoke cleared, to reveal Baby Mario, barely standing up, with minor burn marks all over his body. Baby Luigi and Kooper exclaimed, "Baby Mario!" and dashed to their team leader, helping him to stand.

"Oh, thank goodness you guys are here," Baby Mario weakly said. "I honestly thought that I was going to die."

"Not any time soon," Kooper said. "Come on, let's get you into the SASF."

"Wait," Baby Mario said. "Where's Pehram?"

They looked around the room, trying to find any trace of the Old King. Baby Luigi spotted something and walked to it, as Kooper said, "I think we got him."

"Either that, or he teleported away…" Baby Mario said.

Baby Luigi picked up what looked to be like a gray stone fragment and inspected it. "Didn't it look like his body was made out of stone?"

"I think so, yeah," Baby Mario said.

Baby Luigi looked up and saw multiple other stone fragments littered around the room. "I think the Bullet Bill explosion blasted his entire body apart."

"Well…" Baby Mario said, "…he got exactly what he deserved. Come on, let's get out of here."

* * *

Later in the day, Caelestis Alpha was standing outside of the castle, along with Shauna, Abel, and several other villagers. "We cannot thank you enough for destroying the Ruler and freeing our people," Abel said.

"Oh, it was our pleasure," Baby Mario said.

"Aren't there others of his kind, though?" Shauna asked. "Will they not come to seek vengeance?"

"Well," Kooper said, "these guys apparently rule the entire galaxy. I'm not sure that losing one planet will make any difference to them."

"If you guys bury the Caelestis," Baby Luigi said, "then they won't be able to come back. Make sure to bury it so that the forward side is facing downwards."

"We will do that," Abel said. A villager walked up to Baby Luigi, bearing a small crate. "This is as much elementium as we were able to procure. It's not very much, but I hope your people will make good use of it. Thank you again."

"Thank you too," Baby Luigi said as he took the crate.

"Alright guys," Baby Mario said, "let's head home." The Plitian forces got into their SASFs, and the aircraft lifted into the sky and flew off towards the Caelestis.


	3. Delta

In the pitch-black basement of a large building, several unique artifacts and devices stood. One of the devices was large, silver ring with eleven chevrons on it, with a dark golden sphere floating in front of it.

Suddenly, a large emergence of light came from the ring-shaped device. The chevrons lit up, and dark blue energy formed within the Caelestis. The energy originated in the middle and then spread out to encompass the entire interior of the ring. The energy then faded to show an image of a large underground complex, with three people standing directly on the other side.

Caelestis Alpha crossed through the Caelestis to travel lightyears away in a single step. They emerged on the other side of the Caelestis and took out their flashlights to illuminate the room. "It's dark," Baby Mario commented.

"I think we might be in a building," Kooper said as Baby Luigi began exploring. "We might want to look for an exit."

"This is interesting," Baby Luigi says. "There are a lot of artifacts and sorts of devices here. This might be some sort of research facility."

"Apparently, no one's working today," Baby Mario said.

Suddenly, the light from another flashlight illuminated the area around the three. "Halt!" a voice came.

Out of the darkness came a Human. He was about an average height; he had a dark complexion and wore a security guard's outfit. "Are you three authorized to be down here?" he asked.

"We're explorers from another planet," Baby Luigi quickly tried to explain.

"Sure," the guard sarcastically said. "I'm going to need to see your identifications."

"We don't have ID," Kooper said. "At least, not from this planet. Like my friend tried to tell you, we're from another planet. We've come in peace on a mission of exploration."

"Do you seriously think I'd believe that?" the guard asked. "If you won't show me your IDs, I'm going to have to arrest you." The guard took out handcuffs and stepped towards the team.

Suddenly, another voice came. "What's going on down there?" Another Human came into the area, holding a flashlight and wearing a white labcoat.

"Dr. Cedar, I found these three snooping around in the basement," the guard said. "Do you know them? Do they have authorization to be here?"

"I've never met one of them in my life," the man apparently named Dr. Cedar said. He took a step towards Kooper. "I've never even seen one of your kind." He turned to Baby Mario and asked, "Is he a new kind of Pokémon?"

Kooper said, "No, I'm not a Pokémon, or whatever you said. We're explorers from another planet. We've come on a mission of peace."

The guard suppressed a chuckle, but the scientist looked visibly surprised and took a step back. "You…you're aliens?"

"Yes," Kooper said.

"How did you get to Earth, then?" Dr. Cedar asked.

"We came through the Caelestis," Baby Luigi said. "It's a large ring-shaped device that can create a wormhole between two Caelestis, facilitating instant travel between them. We use it to explore the galaxy."

Dr. Cedar staggered backwards again. "So it's true…"

* * *

A few minutes later, Caelestis Alpha was being escorted to the top of the building they were in. In contrast to the basement, it was well-lit, and had multiple computers with several scientists working at them. As the team entered the top of the building, Dr. Cedar said, "My friends, let me be the first to welcome you to Earth. This is the Mossdeep Space Center, the center of Earth's space program."

"Pretty nice," Baby Mario said.

Another scientist said, "The Caelestis has been a recurring object in mythology. Legends speak of its ability to transport people across planets."

Dr. Cedar continued, "The Caelestis was unearthed by archaeologists several years ago, but we couldn't figure out how to make it work. We placed it in the basement of the space center for further research, as we wanted to focus on our shuttle program more."

"That's probably what we would've done," Baby Luigi said, "if there weren't detailed instruction books left. Where we found the Caelestis on Plit, there were tons of writings on the walls which helped us figure out how it worked. I'd guess that there were no such writings where you found the Caelestis. If we had to figure out how it worked by ourselves, it might've taken years. Probably longer."

"We've come seeking friends," Baby Mario said. "There's evil out there in the galaxy, and we're looking for friends to help fight it. Is there any sort of government authority that we can speak to?"

Dr. Cedar said, "There isn't really a government. Or, well, there aren't really distinct countries or so forth. All of that really ended after the war. Now, everyone naturally lives in harmony with each other, so there isn't really a need for a government. But the closest thing to an authority here is the local Pokémon League champion, Steven Stone."

"Someone talking about me?" a voice came. Caelestis Alpha turned to the entrance and saw a man dressed in black garments with light-silver hair standing there.

"Mr. Champion!" Dr. Cedar said. "It's an honor to have you here."

"I was notified the instant this began," Steven said. He stepped forward into the room and said to Caelestis Alpha, "So, you're our aliens."

"That's right," Baby Mario said. "I'm Baby Mario, this is Baby Luigi, and that's Kooper. We come from the planet Plit."

"You don't look too different. At least, you two don't."

"Yeah," Baby Luigi said. "It's a mystery we're trying to solve. Every alien species we've come across has been Human. Not even Toad, or Koopa – those are other species on our planet – but only Human. Not only that, they speak English just like we do."

"Interesting," Steven said. "You say you've come on a mission of exploration?"

Kooper said, "That's right. We're looking for technology and allies that could help us fight the Old Kings."

"Who are the Old Kings?" Steven asked.

"They're a race of beings who rule the entire galaxy," Baby Mario said. "They were hostile to us the moment we met them. They force the inhabitants of the planets they conquer into slavery, and I have no doubt they would do the same to Plit or Earth."

"There are legends connected to the Caelestis legend that have beings like what you're describing in them," Steven says. "One of the legends says that one of these Old Kings ruled the world before a Pokémon uprising forced him to leave through the Caelestis."

"You've mentioned these Pokémon things a lot," Kooper said. "Can you tell us what exactly a Pokémon is?"

"I can show you," Steven said. He grabbed a small red and white orb roughly an inch in diameter. He then pressed the button on it, and it expanded to over twice its original radius. Steven pointed the orb at the ground and pressed the button on it again. A beam of red energy shot forward from the orb and materialized a massive robotic being with a turquoise, disc-shaped body and four legs.

"Wow!" Caelestis Alpha exclaimed at the same time.

"This Pokémon is called a Metagross," Steven explained. "Pokémon are creatures with extraordinary powers. Metagross, for example, can use psychic and telekinetic powers. Humans and Pokémon have worked together for as long as history records; some people keep them as pets, while others use them to help in professions like construction or demolition. Most people, including me, train them and then use them to battle other Pokémon trainers."

"Wow," Baby Mario said. "I'm thinking that these Pokémon might be good allies to have in the battle against the Old Kings."

"I think so too," Baby Luigi said. "How can we get one?"

Dr. Cedar said, "Let's make a deal; we'll give you three each your own starter Pokémon, and in exchange, you show us how the Caelestis works."

"I can agree to that," Baby Luigi said. "I'll show you how it works right now!"

"Great!" Dr. Cedar exclaimed. He, as well as a few other scientists, followed Baby Luigi back down to the basement.

Two other scientists walked up to computers and typed a few things in. Two orbs like the one Steven used materialized in the scientists' hands. They then handed the orbs to Baby Mario and Kooper.

"Those are called Poké Balls," Steven said. "They store a Pokémon as energy, and convert its form to matter when you want to call it out. By pressing the button on the front, you can release and call back the Pokémon."

"Alright," Baby Mario said. "Let's see what kind of Pokémon we have." Baby Mario and Kooper pressed the buttons on their Poké Balls at the same time. Two red bursts of energy shot forward and materialized into matter. Baby Mario's Pokémon was a small, bipedal lizard with a flame on its tail, and Kooper's Pokémon was a small blue quadruped with a blue fin on its head and star-shaped gills on its cheeks.

"Baby Mario, your Pokémon is called a Charmander," Steven said. "It's a powerful fire-type Pokémon from the region of Kanto. Kooper, your Pokémon is a Mudkip. It's a water-type Pokémon. Each Pokémon has an arsenal of moves that it can use in combat. Charmander can use Scratch, Ember, and SmokeScreen, while Mudkip can use Tackle and Water Gun. As you train them more, they'll become more powerful and learn new abilities. Eventually, they might even evolve into new, more powerful Pokémon!"

"Cool!" Baby Mario said.

"Before you start training your Pokémon, maybe you want to see a couple battles by experienced Pokémon trainers," Steven offered.

"Sure," Kooper said.

"Alright. Come, I'll take you to the Pokémon League."

A few hours later, Caelestis Alpha, along with Steven, were in the stands of an arena, watching a Pokémon League battle. On the sandy-red arena of the battlefield stood two large Pokémon. One was a tall and mostly humanoid Pokémon, except for the fact that it had four extremely muscular arms. The other was a bipedal yellow Pokémon wielding a silver spoon in each hand. Steven had explained that they were called Machamp and Alakazam, respectively. The Machamp roared and charged forward, pulling its fists back and infusing them in ice. The Alakazam muttered something, and then a purple aura appeared around the Machamp. The Machamp was stopped dead in its tracks, lifted up into the air, and then was telekinetically thrown across the arena. As the Machamp struggled to get up, a light blue orb of energy formed in between the Alakazam's hands. After a few moments, the energy orb shot forward at the Machamp, impacting and causing a small explosion. As the dust from the explosion cleared, the Machamp was revealed to be knocked out.

The announcer said, "Machamp can no longer fight! The red team is the winner!"

"Wow," Baby Mario said.

A few minutes later, they had cleared out of the arena standings and were walking back to the Mossdeep Space Center. "I would definitely like to have a Pokémon like Machamp or Alakazam at my side when facing down another Old King," Baby Mario said.

"Agreed," Baby Luigi and Kooper said.

"By the way," Steven said, "have you gotten your Pokémon yet, Baby Luigi?"

"I have!" Baby Luigi said. He took out a Poké Ball and called out a small, light green Pokémon with a shell on its back and a leaf on its head.

"That's a Turtwig!" Steven said. "Turtwig, Charmander, and Mudkip are all rare Pokémon, so take care of them. They all have extremely powerful final forms of evolution, so if you train them enough, they might even be able to fight one of these Old Kings."

As they got closer to the Mossdeep Space Center, Steven said, "I'll get in touch with the other Pokémon League Champions to discuss the possibility of an alliance with Plit. In the meantime, you guys can either go back to your planet, or you can stay the night in a hotel."

"I think I'll head back to Plit," Baby Mario said. "I'll be able to fill in General White on what's been happening."

"I think I'll head back too," Kooper said.

"I'm going to stay and do some more research on these Pokémon," Baby Luigi said.

"Alright," Steven said. "I'll see you all later."

* * *

A few hours later, the scientists at the Mossdeep Space Center were conducting a survey of the night sky. Two scientists were working at computers. "What's the value you have for the observed wavelength?" one scientist asked.

"Looks like…660.24 nanometers."

"Okay, so the redshift is 0.006. That's all the data we need from there. Move the telescope to observe area H."

"Moving it…there's a massive spherical object in this area of the sky. It looks to be about six miles in diameter, moving at about fifty kilometers per second…"

"An asteroid?"

"Seems like it…nickel-iron composition…oh no."

"What?"

"Based on its direction and speed…it'll hit the planet in a few days."

* * *

The next day. Baby Mario and Kooper were back at the space center, along with Baby Luigi and Kooper. The scientists had revealed to them the discovery of the incoming meteor. "It'll impact with a million megatons of energy," the scientist explained. "The blast from the impact alone will annihilate Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh. Ejecta will cause destruction across the rest of the planet. We're probably looking at an extinction event."

"Do you have any way to stop it?" Baby Mario asked.

"We're working on a way," the scientist said. "We were wondering if you guys had any ideas."

"Besides evacuate through the Caelestis?" Baby Luigi asked. "Nope. It's way too late for kinetic deflection or a gravity tractor, and it would take six of our heaviest nukes to fragment it."

"What's your plan to stop it?" Kooper asked.

"First," Steven said, "I think I should tell you about mega evolution. You already know about normal evolution, where one Pokémon, when it's gotten enough experience, evolves into another, more powerful species. There's another type of evolution called mega evolution. A fully evolved Pokémon, like a Charizard or Swampert, can tap into the powers of certain stones and objects called Key Stones to temporarily evolve into even more powerful versions of themselves."

The scientist nodded. "We plan to harness the power from mega evolution in order to create a portal to teleport the asteroid elsewhere; kind of like the Caelestis."

"That's some pretty advanced stuff," Baby Luigi said. "Wormhole creation is only theoretical at best back on Plit."

"To be honest, we don't understand even the most basic underlying mechanisms behind it," the scientist said. "It's our only hope, though."

"We'll help you in any way possible," Baby Mario said.

"I'm thinking we should start evacuating people to Plit," Kooper said. "If this doesn't work…"

"I'll start getting the word out," Steven said. "In the meantime, there's a few more things we need to do before this plan can begin."

The scientist took out a small object and said, "This is a dimensional shifter. It's what we're going to use to teleport the asteroid away. But right now, it doesn't have enough energy to do it. Thousands of years ago, an asteroid like this one impacted the planet, causing a small extinction event. The few shards that we've managed to find emit energy like the energy from mega evolution. If this plan is going to work, we need more of those shards; at least two."

"I think I know where we can find some," Steven said. "Granite Cave and Meteor Falls are two caves which were apparently struck by the meteor impact millions of years ago. If there are any places we can find meteorite shards, it's those two places."

"We'll go and see if we can find any," Baby Mario said.

"You guys check out Meteor Falls," Steven said. "I'll head to Granite Cave."

"Where is Meteor Falls?" Baby Luigi asked.

"It's on the other side of the region, but don't worry," Steven said. "You can use Pokémon to get there." Steven took out a Poké Ball and summoned an Abra; a small, yellow, humanoid Pokémon that looked like the Alakazam earlier, except it was much smaller and didn't hold any spoons. Its eyes were also closed. "Abra, take these three to Meteor Falls."

The Abra nodded and seemed to concentrate. A few moments later, the environment around Caelestis Alpha suddenly changed. They were now standing at the foot of a rocky mountain, with the shadow of Meteor Falls looming overhead. Abra was also next to them. "It teleported us!" Baby Mario said. "Cool…alright, Abra, you stay here. We'll be back soon."

The Abra nodded. Caelestis Alpha entered Meteor Falls. The floor and walls of the cavern were a bright tan, almost white. Waves of crashing water rushed down a stream near them. "I guess we just start looking, then," Kooper said.

Caelestis Alpha began searching around the cavern, looking for any meteorite shards. After half an hour of searching, they had searched the entire entrance area, and had moved on deeper in the cave. It was very dark this deep, so the team took out their flashlights. As they turned them on, a screech came, and a large, blue and purple bat-like Pokémon came flying at them!

"What's that?" Baby Mario asked.

"I think it's a Golbat," Baby Luigi said. "The evolved form of another Pokémon called Zubat. Apparently, these things show up in caves a lot."

The Golbat leered at the team, and then shot a poison stinger at Baby Mario! Baby Mario leapt over it and began to draw his hammer. "Well, if this thing wants a fight…" Baby Mario then remembered about his Pokémon and decided to use it. He put his hammer back and took out his Poké Ball. "…it's going to get one!" Baby Mario called out Charmander. "Alright, Charmander, take that thing down!"

"Char!" Charmander exclaimed. Charmander opened its mouth, and a puff of flame came out, flying towards the Golbat. The Golbat swung to the side to avoid it, and then zoomed at high velocity towards Charmander, hitting it with its wing and knocking it back!

"It's too fast to hit!" Baby Mario said. "What can we do?"

"I did some research on all of our starter Pokémon!" Baby Luigi said. "Try using SmokeScreen to blind it!"

"Alright, then," Baby Mario said. "Charmander, use SmokeScreen!"

Charmander opened its mouth and fired tons of smoke into the air, filling the area with smog. Caelestis Alpha and Charmander quickly jumped out of the affected area. "Is the Golbat still in the smoke?" Baby Mario asked.

"I think so!" Kooper said.

"Charmander, breathe fire onto the smoke!" Baby Mario commanded. Charmander shot a torrent of flame into the smoke, erupting it into a massive fireball. When the flames died down, a charred and knocked out Golbat laid in the center of the room. "Alright! We did it!"

"Nice job!" Baby Luigi said. "That's your first Pokémon battle won!"

Baby Mario nodded. "We'd better get back to searching for that meteorite shard." He returned Charmander to its Poké Ball, and the team went back to looking.

About an hour later, Caelestis Alpha had searched most of the cave, using their Pokémon to fight off any wild Pokémon that attacked them, and still came up short. They were on the upper levels of the cave, which they had to climb the walls to get up to. They turned to explore a smaller branch of the cave, when he saw someone standing at the end of the path. "Hello?" Baby Mario called out.

The person was a girl with dark black hair and clothes, wearing a short white cloak. "Hey!" she called back.

"Who are you?" Baby Mario asked.

"I'm Zinnia!" the person said.

"I'm Baby Mario," Baby Mario said. "This is Baby Luigi, and this is Kooper."

"Well, yeah!" Zinnia said. "Who could've not heard of the alien visitors?"

"Listen, we're looking for some meteorite shards," Baby Mario said. "Do you know where we can find one?"

"Yeah," Zinnia said. "I have one right here."

"Alright," Baby Mario said. "We need it to-"

"Stop an incoming asteroid," Zinnia interrupted. "Am I right?"

"How do you know that?" Baby Luigi asked.

Zinnia smiled and said, "I have my ways! Anyway, this plan that you're going to use to stop the asteroid; it's a bad idea. You have no idea about the kind of energy that you're tapping into."

"We admit that," Baby Luigi said, "but a bad idea's better than no idea. What else can we do?"

"Have you heard of the Draconid people?" Caelestis Alpha shook their heads. "The Draconids were an ancient clan of Dragon Pokémon trainers that lived in ancient Hoenn. When the legendary Pokémon Groudon and Kyogre clashed, they called upon another legendary Pokémon, Rayquaza, to stop the battle. After that, they foretold that another meteor would strike the planet, and constructed the Sky Tower to call upon Rayquaza when this meteor would hit, so he could destroy it. My plan is to finish what the ancestors started; to reawaken Rayquaza, so he can destroy this meteor."

"Well, that's nice," Baby Mario said. "Now we have a backup plan to stop the meteor in case this one doesn't work. We need that meteor shard now, though."

"You know, for advanced aliens, you're not too smart," Zinnia said. She reached into her pockets and took out the meteor shard that the team was looking for. It was jagged along the edges and was a dark brown color, but glowed with a dim light. She gave it to Baby Mario and began to leave. Before she left, though, she said, "On your way back, think about the potential consequences that doing this will have."

When Zinnia had left, Kooper asked, "What do you guys think? Is awakening this Rayquaza a better plan than ours?"

Baby Luigi said, "I did say that it would take six of our heaviest nukes to fragment this asteroid. Now from what we've seen of them, not even the Old Kings are that powerful. I think Zinnia might be applying what we call a no-limits fallacy to Rayquaza. Just because he defeated Groudon and Kyogre doesn't mean he could destroy a massive six mile wide meteor."

Baby Mario said, "So you're saying that our plan to teleport the asteroid away is still the best shot at stopping it?"

"Yeah," Baby Luigi said. "Let's head back to the space center."

* * *

Caelestis Alpha had made it out of Meteor Falls and used the Abra's Teleport move to get back to Mossdeep City quickly. When they got there, they saw barricade tape around the Space Center and tons of policemen surrounding it. The team rushed up to one of the policemen. Baby Mario asked, "What's happening?"

"Team Aqua has invaded the space center," the policeman said. "We don't know what they want, but we're trying to set up negotiations now."

"Who's Team Aqua?" Kooper asked.

"Shouldn't you…oh right, you wouldn't know," the policeman said. "Team Aqua is a gang of villains who wanted to awaken the legendary Pokémon Kyogre and use its power to expand the sea. We thought they were disbanded when their plan was foiled, but apparently not."

"We need to get in there," Baby Luigi said. "You know about the meteor that's going to strike soon, right? We have important stuff needed to prevent it from hitting!"

"Champion Stone told us you'd be arriving soon. You have authorization to go in, but be careful."

"Right," Baby Mario said. The team hopped over the barricade tape and dashed inside the center. On the first floor, they saw scientists huddled in a corner, and a group of Team Aqua members blocking the staircase to the second floor. "You!" Baby Mario shouted at the Aqua Grunts. "We need to get up to the second floor!"

"So you can save the planet?" one of the Aqua Grunts said. "Ha! I don't think so. We knew you'd be coming. Attack!" The Aqua Grunts took out Poké Balls and sent out a total of five dark, hyena-like Pokémon.

"I've read about these Pokémon," Baby Luigi said. "They're called Mightyena, powerful Pokémon that hunt in packs."

"Well, it looks like we've got a fight on our hands," Baby Mario said. "Let's do this." The team took out their Poké Balls and summoned Turtwig, Charmander, and Mudkip.

"Ha! Not even evolved!" one of the Aqua Grunts said. "This'll be easy. Mightyena, get them!"

The five Mightyena leapt at Caelestis Alpha's starter Pokémon. Turtwig withdrew into its shell, while Charmander and Mudkip leapt away. "Focus all our attacks on one of them at a time!" Baby Mario shouted.

"Kooper," Baby Luigi whispered, "Mudkip can use Mud Slap to temporarily disable the others while we focus one down."

"Got it," Kooper said. "Mudkip, Mud Slap!"

Mudkip shot a blast of mud at four of the Mightyena, getting the mud in their eyes. As the afflicted Mightyena stumbled around trying to get the mud off, Baby Mario shouted, "Charmander! Ember the one that didn't get hit!"

"Turtwig, Tackle it!" Baby Luigi shouted. Charmander shot a puff of flame at the Mightyena, while Turtwig leapt at it.

"Mightyena, Bite that Turtwig!" an Aqua Grunt shouted.

"Withdraw!" Baby Luigi said. Mightyena grabbed Turtwig in its jaws, but Turtwig withdrew into its shell. The Ember from Charmander struck, knocking the Mightyena back and causing it to drop Turtwig. "Now, Razor Leaf!" Dozens of small leaves with razor edges appeared around Turtwig and zoomed at Mightyena, hitting it and knocking it out.

"Mudkip, watch out!" Kooper shouted. One of the Mightyena had successfully gotten the mud out of its eyes and pounced on Mudkip. Mudkip rolled to the side to avoid it and then fired a burst of water at the Mightyena. Charmander and Turtwig then used Ember and Razor Leaf at the Mightyena. The combination of attacks caused the Mightyena to be knocked unconscious.

The other three were still clustered together, trying in vain to get the mud out of their eyes. "Charmander, SmokeScreen and then Ember!" Baby Mario commanded. Charmander fired a ton of smoke at the Mightyena, and then ignited it with Ember. The Ember transformed the SmokeScreen into a burning mass of fire, nearly incinerating the Mightyena and knocking them out.

"What?!" the Aqua Grunts exclaimed. "How?!"

"We're just that good!" Baby Mario said. "Now, let us up to the second floor!"

"Grr…fine. But Matt will crush you!" an Aqua Grunt said. The five stepped aside and allowed Caelestis Alpha to ascend to the second floor. There, they saw Steven and another member of Team Aqua, probably the Matt that the Aqua Grunt had mentioned, facing off. Matt was holding the dimensional shifter in his hands.

Steven turned and saw Caelestis Alpha. "Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Kooper! Your timing's impeccable!" Caelestis Alpha rushed up to Steven. Steven turned to Matt and said, "What are you planning on doing with that dimensional shifter you hold? You do realize that that's our only hope of saving this planet, right?"

"Heh. Saving the planet, huh?" Matt chuckled. "That's exactly what I'm trying to stop. You prevented Team Aqua from expanding the oceans of Earth! Human arrogance prevented Pokémon from having a better world to live in! In response, fate sent this meteor to wipe out all Human life, and create a new, better world for Pokémon to live in! Some girl tipped me off that you had a plan to stop this. But good luck! I intend on destroying this dimensional shifter, and along with it, any chance that this new, better world for Pokémon may not be realized!"

"You're insane," Steven said. He turned to Caelestis Alpha, "It looks like we're going to have to fight him. Are you ready?"

"Let's do it," Baby Mario said. Charmander, Mudkip, and Turtwig jumped in front of their trainers and got into a battle stance.

"Alright then," Matt said. "Sharpedo, go!" A torpedo-shaped shark Pokémon emerged in front of Matt.

"Sharpedo is a water type," Baby Luigi said. "Charmander better be careful."

"Sharpedo, Agility!" Matt said. Sharpedo dashed around the room, getting faster and faster with each dash.

"Turtwig, Razor Leaf!" Baby Luigi said. Dozens of razor-edged leaves appeared and shot towards Sharpedo. However, the shark Pokémon was too fast, and effortlessly dodged all of them.

"Alright Sharpedo, Poison Fang!" The Sharpedo rocketed towards Turtwig and opened its jaws. Purple poison seemed to permeate its teeth.

"Withdraw!" Baby Luigi commanded. Turtwig withdrew into its shell, but Sharpedo snapped down hard on Turtwig. The poison seeped through the shell and knocked out Turtwig.

"Mudkip, Mud Slap it!" Kooper said. Mudkip fired a blast of mud at Sharpedo, but again, Sharpedo was too fast and dodged it. It then Skull Bashed Mudkip, slamming it into a wall and knocking it out.

"Watch out, Charmander…" Baby Mario said. "It's too fast to hit head-on."

Charmander and Sharpedo stared each other down for a few moments before Matt shouted, "Just Skull Bash it already!"

"DODGE!" Baby Mario shouted. Sharpedo rocketed at Charmander, and Charmander leapt up into the air, avoiding the attack by a hair's breadth. Sharpedo smashed into the wall. As it attempted to reorient itself, psychic energy suddenly appeared around it, and it was lifted up into the air.

"Metagross, Psychic!" Steven commanded. Metagross used its psychic powers to slam the Sharpedo into the floor, knocking it out.

"No!" Matt exclaimed. "Sharpedo, return!" The Sharpedo was converted into energy and returned into its Poké Ball. "Agh…am I just not good enough?"

"I guess not!" Baby Mario said. "Now, give back that dimensional shifter."

Suddenly, a small, pink Pokémon with a spherical body ran up to Matt, grabbed the dimensional shifter from him, and ran back to the entrance.

The team turned to see who was there. "Zinnia!" Baby Mario said.

"Nice one!" Zinnia said to her Whismur as it gave her the dimensional shifter. Zinnia then stepped forward and said, "So, pretty impressive device. You press a button, and the meteor is gone. The planet is saved, and the meteor will never harm anyone. Am I right?"

"Yes," one of the scientists said.

"It will never harm anyone in this universe…" Zinnia turned around. "But what about another universe? One that doesn't have the technology to stop this asteroid?"

"What are you talking about?" Baby Luigi asked.

Zinnia turned back to face the team and said, "When you teleport that asteroid away, you won't teleport it to another position in space. It'll stay in the same position, on the same course, except it'll be teleported to an alternate reality."

"What's an alternate reality?" Baby Mario asked.

Baby Luigi answered the question. "According to the multiverse theory, there are an infinite amount of other universes living in parallel with our own. Everything that could possibly ever happen since the formation of the multiverse has or will happen in one of those alternate realities. In one reality, maybe we failed to defeat the Shroobs. In another, maybe we unearthed the Caelestis ten years before we did in this universe. In another universe, maybe the only difference is that you ducked to tie your shoes right now." Baby Mario looked down at his untied shoes and shrugged.

"Yep," Zinnia said, "and this dimensional shifter you're planning on using will teleport the asteroid to an alternate reality. An alternate reality where the people of Earth don't have the technology to prevent the impact. The people of that world would be wiped out. Which is why I'm going to do this." Zinnia then crushed the dimensional shifter in her hand.

"What kind of fool are you?!" one of the scientists exclaimed. "You have no proof of this other world you speak of! And even if you did, our responsibility is to the people of this universe! You've destroyed our only hope!"

"No. Not our only hope," Zinnia said. "We can protect both worlds."

Baby Luigi said to Steven, "Her plan is to awaken a legendary Pokémon called Rayquaza and use it to destroy the asteroid." He then said to Zinnia, "Your plan requires that we assume that Rayquaza is capable of this! You don't have any proof that he's that powerful. He stopped Groudon and Kyogre, but that doesn't mean he can stop a six mile wide asteroid!"

Zinnia just said, "We'll see. Oh, and before I forget…" She walked up to Steven and Matt and quickly swiped something.

"Hey!" the two exclaimed.

As she turned to leave, she said, "If you want to help, meet me at the Sky Pillar." She then left.

"What did she take from you?" Baby Mario asked.

"My Key Stone," Steven said. "It's what allows us Pokémon trainers to tap into the power of mega evolution and allow our Pokémon to evolve."

"That's the girl who tipped me off about your plan to stop the meteor," Matt said. "So…it was just a ploy, so she could steal my Key Stone. Still, even though it wasn't in the way I expected it to be, my goal was accomplished. I'm out of here." The Team Aqua admin left.

"This is a bad situation," Kooper said.

"It looks like we don't have a choice," Baby Mario said. He asked Steven, "Where's this Sky Pillar?"

"It's off the coast of the mainland, near a settlement called Pacifidlog Town," Steven said. "My Metagross can teleport you there."

"Alright," Baby Mario said. "In the meantime, start evacuating people through the Caelestis to Plit. We'll try our best, but if this doesn't work…"

"Right," Steven said. "And here, take this." Steven handed the meteorite shard he had acquired at Granite Cave to Baby Mario. "I won't be needing it now. Go."

Baby Mario nodded. Metagross used its psychic powers. The terrain around Caelestis Alpha suddenly changed again. They were now on a small beach, with ocean out to the front and a massive, towering structure behind them. "This must be Sky Pillar," Baby Mario said. "Let's go."

The trio stepped inside Sky Pillar. Several tiles on the floor were cracked, and there were several drawings on the wall. Ladders connected each floor to each other. Kooper looked up and realized that he couldn't see the roof. "We've got a long way to climb, apparently," Kooper said.

After several straight minutes of climbing, Caelestis Alpha found themselves at the peak of the structure. The roof was triangular, with what seemed to be some sort of altar at the back. A voice came. "There you are. I knew you would come." Zinnia was standing at the base of the altar. Caelestis Alpha rushed up to her. "Welcome to the Dragonhark Altar. It's here where we'll summon Rayquaza and destroy the meteor heading for our planet. That is my duty, entrusted to me since I was born by my clan, the Draconid clan."

"There's not long until the meteor hits," Baby Luigi said. "Whatever you're going to do, we have to do it now, and quickly."

Zinnia nodded and turned to the altar. "Right, then. I think it's time I gave this a shot." She brought her hands to her face and recited the words, "With jewel bright and borrowed might from the spirits of the departed…through sacred rite, in thy sight, my life as well I offer…" Suddenly, Steven and Matt's Key Stones began glowing. The roof began shaking. "I summon thee…to aid…this fight…and save us…from disaster! Realize this upon this world, for this do I summon thee, Rayquaza!"

A blinding flash of light occurred. The members of Caelestis Alpha raised their arms to shield their eyes from the light. When it faded, they saw a massive dragon Pokémon standing there. "Rayquaza…" the three whispered.

"Rayquaza!" Zinnia exclaimed. "I…I did it! Now the world can be saved!" Caelestis Alpha looked on, skeptically but hopefully. "Great Rayquaza, hear my wish. Take hold of your power, and destroy the meteor that threatens us!"

Rayquaza roared in defiance and knocked Zinnia to the ground with its tail. "Woah!" Baby Mario exclaimed. He drew his hammer as Baby Luigi and Kooper rushed to Zinnia and helped her up.

"Are you okay?" Baby Luigi asked.

"Yeah…" Zinnia said. "Why? Why won't you help, Rayquaza?"

Rayquaza roared again. "Can you understand what it's saying?" Kooper asked.

"Rayquaza…wishes to test us," Zinnia said. "To ensure that we're worthy."

"That's stupid!" Baby Mario said. He shouted at Rayquaza, "Billions of people and Pokémon will die if you don't help!" Rayquaza roared again.

"It's no use…" Zinnia said. "You have to defeat it."

Baby Mario shook his head and said, "Wow, I really wish you didn't destroy that dimensional shifter. Alright, then. If it's a fight this thing's looking for, it's a fight that it'll get."

"We can't use our Pokémon," Baby Luigi said. "They're way too weak to fight a legendary of Rayquaza's caliber."

"Good thing I brought some power-ups," Baby Mario said. He handed a Fire Flower to Baby Luigi, and then used a Super Cape.

Kooper told Zinnia, "This could get ugly. Get down to the second-to-last floor and wait there." Zinnia nodded and descended the ladder.

The three members of Caelestis Alpha stared down Rayquaza. After a few moments, Rayquaza roared and flew at Kooper. Kooper ducked into his shell while Baby Mario zoomed towards Rayquaza and Baby Luigi began charging up a fireball attack. Baby Mario slammed his fist into Rayquaza, causing the Pokémon to halt its attack on Kooper and turn to face Baby Mario. Kooper then shot at Rayquaza from within his shell, slamming into him. Rayquaza roared and clawed Kooper, knocking the Koopa back several meters. Baby Mario delivered a flurry of punches to Rayquaza, but the legendary Pokémon shrugged them off and fired a beam of energy at Baby Mario, knocking the hero back and severely damaging him.

Baby Mario got up quickly and flew at Rayquaza again, smashing his hammer into the dragon's body. Rayquaza roared in pain and swept his tail across horizontally, knocking Baby Mario into the air. Rayquaza then grabbed Baby Mario with a claw and began squeezing. Baby Mario struggled to escape, but his escape came when Baby Luigi launched a massive fireball at Rayquaza, causing the dragon to roar in pain again and drop Baby Mario. Baby Luigi then unleashed a flurry of smaller fireballs at Rayquaza. Rayquaza shrugged off each successive hit and began charging up a beam of energy in his mouth. Baby Luigi ducked to the side just as Rayquaza fired the hyper beam, blasting the place where he was standing.

"He's too powerful at close range and he's too powerful at long range!" Baby Mario shouted. "What can we do?" Before Baby Luigi could answer, he had to jump over a tail sweep from Rayquaza. He infused his fist with flame and then punched Rayquaza as hard as he could. Rayquaza slightly recoiled, but formed a turquoise-colored energy ball and fired it at Baby Luigi. Baby Luigi leapt to the side, just barely avoiding the energy ball. Rayquaza then fired more energy balls at Baby Luigi in quick succession. The scientist rushed to try to avoid them, but tripped and got hit by one. An explosion shot out from the impact, and when the dust cleared, Baby Luigi was unconscious.

"BABY LUIGI!" Baby Mario exclaimed. "Agh…alright then, time to go all out." Baby Mario leapt at Rayquaza and slammed his hammer into the dragon. Rayquaza flew backwards a bit and fired an energy ball at Baby Mario. Anticipating this, Baby Mario raised his hammer and slammed it into the energy ball, deflecting it back at Rayquaza. Rayquaza clearly didn't expect this and roared in pain as its own attack exploded against it. Baby Mario then leapt forward and attempted to smash Rayquaza with his hammer, but the dragon Pokémon flew up high into the air. Baby Mario looked up and tried to spot Rayquaza. He then saw Rayquaza, diving directly downwards onto him! Baby Mario leapt to the side and just barely avoided Rayquaza smashing into the ground, destroying it. Baby Mario then rolled to the side and barely avoided Rayquaza coming up through the roof. Rayquaza then smashed its body forward into Baby Mario, creating a small explosion and knocking the hero unconscious.

Suddenly, a bullet smashed into Rayquaza's scales. The legendary Pokémon looked to the side and saw Kooper holding a super scope. Kooper fired more bullets at Rayquaza, but the legendary Pokémon only looked mildly irritated. Kooper then ducked into his shell, infused his shell in flames, and rocketed at Rayquaza. Rayquaza brought his tail up and slammed it into Kooper, sending him flying backwards and slamming into the ground, nearly knocked out.

Rayquaza flew to Kooper and towered over him, observing him. Kooper mustered the strength to speak. "So kill me then," Kooper said. "Kill us because we fought to save a planet from extinction."

"Stop!" a voice came. Kooper and Rayquaza looked to the side and saw Zinnia.

"Zinnia…" Kooper whispered.

Zinnia rushed up to Rayquaza and fell to her knees. "Please, Rayquaza! Please just stop this and help us!" Rayquaza looked at her, apparently considering it. It then nodded. Zinnia slowly stood up and said, "I…I think I understand now."

Kooper fought through his pain and stood up. "What is it?" he asked.

"I was wondering why Rayquaza would test us," Zinnia said, "why he would want us to prove ourselves worthy before he would agree to save us from extinction. But I understand now. It's not us that he was testing. It was you."

As Baby Mario and Baby Luigi slowly came to, Kooper asked, "Me?"

"All three of you," Zinnia said. "Rayquaza knew that you were aliens. He wanted to test you, to see if you would fight and possibly die for a world that you knew almost nothing of. He wanted to see if your hearts were pure enough to do that." Rayquaza nodded.

"So…we didn't need to win," Kooper said. "We just needed to show that we were willing to fight to save innocent people." Rayquaza nodded again. "Well then…" Kooper straightened and walked up to Rayquaza. "…let's try this again. Rayquaza, will you help us? Will you destroy the meteor that threatens to wipe out all life on Earth?"

After a few seconds, Rayquaza nodded. It looked to the sky and roared. Then, it took off, flying directly upwards at the incoming meteor.

A short while later, Baby Mario and Baby Luigi were conscious again. Baby Luigi set up a small telescope so they could watch Rayquaza. As the team looked into the telescope, they saw Rayquaza flying into the stratosphere, then the mesosphere, then the thermosphere, then the exosphere, and then space. After a few more seconds of flying, Rayquaza paused. Baby Luigi turned the telescope slightly, and they could see the incoming meteor. "There it is…" Baby Luigi said.

"Come on, Rayquaza," Zinnia whispered. "You can do it…"

Rayquaza pulled its head back, and a massive beam of energy began forming in its mouth. After a few seconds, Rayquaza jolted its head forward, and the beam of energy flew into the asteroid, causing a massive explosion. Heat and radiation burst forward from the surface of the asteroid, and when they dissipated, the team could see that only small parts of the asteroid had been knocked off. "It didn't work…" Baby Luigi said. "The asteroid's still intact…"

"It's just like you feared," Kooper said. "Rayquaza isn't powerful enough…"

"Asteroid is still on course to impact in…" Baby Luigi took out a piece of paper and did some quick calculations. "…two hours, forty-six minutes."

"Well, it's over, then," Baby Mario said. "We should get back to the Caelestis."

"Wait," Zinnia said. "There's one more thing we can try. I think it's time that you learned the origins of mega evolution. Thousands of years ago, in a primal age long lost, the world was overflowing with natural energy. Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre fought over that energy in endless, furious clashes. In the face of their terrible power, people could do nothing. One day, a meteor shower struck the world, and several meteors landed in the home of the Draconid people. The meteors shone with a rainbow brilliance, as if a great life was held within. Then, as if drawn by the brilliance, a Pokémon that shone in a blazing emerald hue descended from the skies…"

"Rayquaza," Baby Mario said.

Zinnia nodded. "Rayquaza's power overwhelmed Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre, and peace returned to the world. Rayquaza was revered as a savior. A thousand years later, the meteors fell once again. A huge meteor, far larger than any before, struck the planet, boring deep into the ocean and leaving behind a massive crater, creating the land of Sootopolis. When this meteor struck, the land cracked beneath it, and a well of natural energy poured out into the world. Thirsting for that energy, Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre once again awoke. The people remembered what happened a millennium ago, and wished for Rayquaza to once again appear. The huge meteor that lay at the heart of Sootopolis gave off a blinding brilliance, resembling a Key Stone. Once again, Rayquaza descended from its place in the skies. The people wished for salvation from Groudon and Kyogre's power. As they did, a great change came over the legendary Pokémon. It was enveloped in a blinding light, and as the light receded, a Rayquaza beyond all knowledge was beheld; a sublime, incandescent figure overflowing with life energy. Combined with the power from the meteor and the strength of the peoples' wish, Rayquaza had mega evolved. Wielding its great powers, Mega Rayquaza once again stopped Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre's clash. Transforming back into its normal form, it then soared back up into the heavens where it dwelled."

By now, Rayquaza had descended from space, and was now on the roof of the Sky Tower with the team. "So you're saying that if we can get Rayquaza to mega evolve again," Baby Mario said, "it might have enough power to destroy this meteor."

"Yes," Zinnia said, "but the power required to do that is enormous. Normal Key Stones, like the two I have here, won't cut it. We would need fragments of the massive meteor that impacted so long ago. You have one, from Meteor Falls, but we would need another." She looked down at the ground and said, "I don't think we have the time to search for another."

"I have another," Baby Mario said. "Steven gave it to me just before we left."

"Really?" Zinnia asked. "Then…there's still hope! Use the meteorite shards to induce Rayquaza's mega evolution!"

"Alright…" Baby Mario took out both of the meteorite shards and stepped up to Rayquaza. "Okay, I've never mega evolved a Pokémon before…" Rayquaza cocked its head in slight confusion. Baby Mario held out both of the meteorite shards. "Please, Rayquaza, mega evolve. You're this planet's only hope."

Rayquaza and the meteorites then suddenly began glowing. Rayquaza's form changed to be much larger. Another burst of light shot forward. When the light dissipated, Rayquaza's body was much longer, almost serpentine. Its front horns had become much longer and had gold lines running over them. Long tendrils extended from its jaw, which seemed to emit particles. The delta sign had appeared on its forehead.

"We did it!" Zinnia exclaimed. "Rayquaza has mega evolved!"

"Alright then!" Baby Mario said. "Mega Rayquaza, destroy that meteor!"

Mega Rayquaza roared and flew up into space at a much faster speed. The team quickly gathered around the telescope again. Mega Rayquaza approached the asteroid and then accelerated to its top speed. Mega Rayquaza shot through the meteor at breathtakingly fast speeds, causing a massive explosion that annihilated much of the asteroid and sending chunks of it flying away from the planet.

"YEAH!" everyone exclaimed.

The team looked up to the sky. Tiny fragments of the asteroid shot into the atmosphere, burning up harmlessly. "Where's Rayquaza?" Kooper asked.

"Probably returned to its home in the ozone layer," Zinnia said. She turned to the team and said, "You did it. You saved Earth."

Baby Mario said, "Not just us. And not just the Earth of this universe. We all saved this Earth, and the Earth of the parallel universe you talked about." Baby Mario looked to the sky and saw more tiny fragments burning up, like shooting stars. "Let's get back to the space center."

* * *

Back at the Mossdeep Space Center, the Caelestis had been moved to the top floor. Caelestis Alpha stood in front of it, with Steven and various other Pokémon League champions assembled in front of them. Steven said, "We can't thank you enough for what you've done."

"Actually, you can," Baby Mario said.

"Plit and Earth are of similar technology levels," Baby Luigi said. "But there are some things that you guys have that we don't, and some things that we have that you don't. If we can set up an alliance and trade agreements, we can strengthen both of our planets to prepare for the inevitable battle against the Old Kings."

Kooper said, "Caelestis Epsilon, our diplomatic team, will be by in a few days to begin the negotiations. I hope we can set up something that mutually benefits both of our planets."

"Absolutely," Steven said. "Thank you again."

"Alright, guys." Baby Mario said. "Let's head home." Baby Luigi dialed the remote on the control sphere, and Caelestis Alpha stepped back through the wormhole, back to Plit.


	4. Stranded

A burst of light illuminated a cave as a dark blue matter formed inside the Caelestis and then faded to show an underground complex on the other side. Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, and Kooper stepped through the Caelestis into the cave on this new world. The Caelestis disengaged, and the light from the wormhole dissipated. The team took out their flashlights to illuminate the area. Kooper said, "Seems we're in some sort of cave."

Baby Luigi said, "I think I see a way to the surface." He pointed upwards, to a short crevice where a small amount of light could be seen. Baby Mario took point, climbing through the passage to the top. He removed a small piece of rock and climbed out of the cave, closely followed by the rest of his team.

They were on a large mountain range filled with grass, trees, and animals. "I don't see any signs of civilization," Baby Luigi said.

Baby Mario took out his binoculars and looked out to the horizon, which glowed a dark red color as the sun of this world began to set. "Yeah, me neither," Baby Mario said.

Kooper said, "Well, not every civilization has to be within a short distance of the Caelestis."

"Yeah, planets are big," Baby Luigi said. "If a civilization only keeps to the other side of the world for whatever reason, we might never discover them."

"Alright, here's the plan," Baby Mario said. "We'll explore the surrounding areas for three days, checking in with General White every 24 hours. If we don't find anything, we'll head back to Plit, and maybe Caelestis Beta will come back in a SASF to explore further."

"Alright," Baby Luigi and Kooper said. A short while later, night began to fall over the world. Baby Mario was standing next to a small wooden shelter in an open plain not far from the mountain range, looking out at the horizon using his binoculars. Baby Luigi and Kooper came back, carrying a few blocks of wood. They placed the wood over the shelter, and Baby Mario nailed it down so it could be a roof.

"Not the best shelter ever," Baby Mario said, "but it'll get us through the night. Let's get to bed; we have a lot of exploring to do in the morning."

Several hours later around midnight, Baby Mario was jolted awake by a noise. He cautiously grabbed his hammer, which was laying nearby, and stood up. Suddenly, he heard what sounded like moans and clattering from outside the shelter. Then, there was banging on the walls of the shelter, which woke up Baby Luigi and Kooper. "What's going on?" they asked.

"I don't know," Baby Mario said. Suddenly, the barricades they placed in front of the door were knocked down as a zombie burst into the shelter! "Woah!" Baby Luigi shouted. Baby Mario quickly leapt at the zombie and smashed its head in using his hammer, killing it.

"Is that a-?" Kooper began.

"Zombie," Baby Mario finished. "This isn't good. You two stay here. I'm going to do some recon." Baby Mario stepped out of the shelter and took a few steps forward. Suddenly, an arrow whizzed by, just barely missing his head! Baby Mario ducked to the ground and looked around him, finding that he was surrounded by zombie, skeletons, and massive spiders!

Baby Mario quickly got back into the shelter and set up the barricades in front of the door again. "What's out there?" Kooper asked.

"Undead and giant spiders," Baby Mario said. "This definitely isn't good. Any ideas?"

"These monsters didn't appear during the day," Baby Luigi said. "Maybe they only come out at night. We might be able to wait out the night here."

"There's way too many to hold out against," Baby Mario said. "I counted at least twenty, maybe more." After a short few seconds, he said, "I'm calling the mission. Get your supplies; we're making a run for the Caelestis."

The team quickly gathered up their supplies into their backpacks and then crouched in front of the doorway, ready to sprint out at a moment's notice. "Kooper, how long can you use your Fire Shell ability for?" Baby Mario asked.

"Maybe fifty seconds if I pushed it," Kooper guessed.

"Fifty seconds," Baby Mario repeated. "I'd say we're about two hundred meters from the Caelestis, so…it might be doable. Use Fire Shell all the way back to the Caelestis. Baby Luigi and I will run just behind you. Hopefully the flames will frighten off any monsters. On the count of three, we run like heck. Three, two, one…go!"

Kooper ducked into his shell, engulfed it in flames, and then shot out of the shelter. Baby Mario and Baby Luigi then took off, running at maximum speed after Kooper. Monsters beset upon them from all sides, but the zombies and spiders were hesitant to get any closer than a few meters due to the flames. Skeletons fired arrows at the team, which bounced off Kooper's shell and were blocked by Baby Mario and Baby Luigi's hammers. They made it back to the cave that the Caelestis was in just before Kooper ran out of stamina and couldn't use Fire Shell anymore.

"Baby Luigi, dial home! Kooper and I will hold the entrance."

"Got it," Baby Luigi said. He stepped in front of the control sphere and began inputting Plit's identification numbers into the remote.

"It's a narrow entranceway," Kooper said. "If we stand to the side, we can take out the monsters as they come in."

"Right," Baby Mario said. He stepped back and took out his hammer. A few seconds later, a zombie emerged through the entranceway. Baby Mario quickly smashed it with his hammer. Another zombie came in, which Kooper punched to the floor. A skeleton filed in through the narrow path, and Baby Mario did a horizontal attack with his hammer that sent the skeleton's head flying away from its body.

Suddenly, there was an explosion, destroying the narrow entranceway and creating a much larger, less defendable entrance. Dozens of monsters began descending upon the cave. "Fall back!" Baby Mario shouted. He reached into his backpack and took out a small mini Bob-omb. He chucked the mini Bob-omb out into the horde of monsters and then leapt deeper into the cave just as it exploded, taking out a large amount of monsters.

Baby Mario and Kooper quickly got up. Baby Mario used his hammer to take out any zombies or spiders that got close, while Kooper used his super scope to kill the skeletons lobbing arrows at them. As Baby Mario took out another zombie by smashing it into the wall with his hammer, Kooper fired his last bullet at a skeleton. "Out of ammo!" Kooper shouted. Baby Mario tossed Kooper his super scope, and Kooper renewed his attack on the skeletons.

"Baby Luigi!" Baby Mario shouted as he smashed another giant spider. "What's taking so long?"

"It's not working!" Baby Luigi shouted back.

"What do you mean it's not working?!" Baby Mario shouted.

"I don't know!" Baby Luigi shouted back. "I'm entering the buttons, the remote's accepting them, but when I place my hands over the control sphere, everything just resets!"

"You gotta be kidding me!" Baby Mario said in frustration. Baby Mario smashed in one more zombie's head, then ran back to Baby Luigi. He picked up the remote, input Plit's identification numbers, set the remote back into the control sphere, and then placed his hands on the sphere. However, it failed to light up as it normally should. "Well, what now?!" Baby Mario asked.

"I don't know!" Baby Luigi said. "The problem has to be with the control sphere, but I don't know how to even begin diagnosing it!"

Kooper ran down to the rest of his teammates and said, "I'm out of ammo! They're getting closer!"

Baby Mario took out a Cape Feather and said, "Well, I don't know about you two, but I don't intend on having my brains get eaten by zombies! It's time to power-up!" Baby Mario used the Cape Feather, but nothing happened. He tried using it again, but still nothing happened. "Okay, this isn't good."

"Our Pokémon," Kooper said. "They might be able to help."

"Right," Baby Mario said. He unclipped his Poké Ball from his belt and held it out. "Go, Charmander!" He pushed the button on the Poké Ball, but nothing happened. He pressed it again, and still nothing happened. "Oh, come on!"

Suddenly, a hissing sound was heard from behind them. "WATCH OUT!" Baby Luigi shouted. He leapt forward, pushing Baby Mario and Kooper along with him and just barely escaping a massive explosion. The explosion caved in the area where the Caelestis was, burying it.

"What was that?" Kooper exclaimed.

"Some sort of explosion!" Baby Luigi said. He went up to the cave in and tossed aside a few rocks before shaking his head and saying, "It completely buried the Caelestis."

Baby Mario looked up to the entrance of the cave. The monsters were waiting. "Okay, we're in trouble," Baby Mario said. "Power-ups and Poké Balls won't work, and Kooper and I have no ammo."

"I still have twelve bullets," Baby Luigi said. He took out his super scope, ejected eight of the bullets, and gave four each to Baby Mario and Kooper, who quickly reloaded their super scopes. Baby Mario and Baby Luigi jumped up to the entrance of the cave and did horizontal sweeps with their hammers, knocking out all the zombies. Kooper rushed up to them, and they set up rocks to use as cover. They balanced their super scopes on the rocks and prepared to fire at the incoming enemies.

"They're coming…" Baby Mario whispered. Hordes of zombies and skeletons began descending upon the team. They fired all their bullets at the skeletons, taking out a total of nine of them. The spiders were the first to get into melee range, and Baby Mario and Baby Luigi smashed them with their hammers. Kooper got into his shell and engulfed it in flame, then rocketed out at the zombies, ricocheting between them and taking out a ton of them.

As the team fought to survive, it seemed that every monster they took down was replaced by two more. Baby Luigi almost collapsed from fatigue, when suddenly, the monsters began clearing away.

"Look!" Kooper shouted. He pointed at the horizon. The sun was coming up.

"Yes!" Baby Mario exclaimed. As the first rays of sunlight fell upon the planet, zombies and skeletons exploded into flames. The team came out of the cave entrance and looked about the world. The spiders were suddenly docile, wandering around as though they completely forgot about Caelestis Alpha. As quickly as the world descended into chaos, it became peaceful.

A short while later, Caelestis Alpha was back at the shelter they constructed. "Is there any way you can get the Caelestis to work?" Baby Mario asked.

Kooper said, "Maybe we can use our mini Bob-ombs to unearth it."

"No, they're not powerful enough," Baby Luigi said. "Besides, even if I knew what was wrong with the control sphere, I still probably couldn't fix it. Remember, we have virtually no understanding on how the Caelestis actually works. Like, you can operate a computer, but could you fix one if something broke inside, using only parts you have on hand?"

"Probably not," Baby Mario said. "Still, I have to wonder why neither the Caelestis, Poké Balls, nor our power-ups are working. It can't be a coincidence."

"I don't think so either," Baby Luigi said. "This has never happened on any other planet. Granted, we've only been to a total of five before, counting Plit, but it has to be something with this particular planet."

"Maybe the undead have something to do with it," Kooper said. "I could feel some sort of…aura emanating from them. It felt…evil. Maybe that's what's causing it."

"I'm not sure," Baby Luigi said. "Either way, it seems like we're stuck here for the next few days, at least."

"Alright, supplies check," Baby Mario have. "What do we have and what do we need?"

Baby Luigi checked through the supplies. "We have our hammers, our super scopes but no ammo for them, our Poké Balls but those won't work, a number of power-ups but again those won't work, four mini Bob-ombs, basic medical kits, and enough food and water to survive for two weeks."

"There seem to be a lot of animals nearby," Kooper said. "If we run low, we can…um…cook them."

"Yeah, let's keep that as a last resort," Baby Luigi said. "I saw a lot of lakes and ponds while I was scouting. We can probably figure out some way to desalinate the water."

"Don't worry, guys," Baby Mario said. "I don't think we'll have to go that long. We have a scheduled report in about twelve hours. When we don't report back, General White will dial the Caelestis here and contact us using the radio. We can tell him to use focused explosives so they can unbury the Caelestis, and then we can just jump back through the wormhole to Plit."

"There's only a 50% chance that might work," Baby Luigi said. "It's possible that the Caelestis was buried facing down. If so, then no amount of focused explosives could unearth it. We would have to unearth it ourselves from this end."

Kooper said, "Well, there's a 0% chance of us surviving another night."

"What other options do we have?" Baby Mario said. "I think we should take the risk. We'll set up fortifications and barricades near the entrance to the cave. Hopefully, we'll be able to hold out until the general dials back."

Hours later, Kooper was just outside the cave. He looked out to the horizon and saw it reddening as the sun began to set. He stepped into the cave and asked, "How's it going?"

Baby Mario said, "As you can see, we've made it so that the only entrance to the cave is a narrow doorway. Behind that, there's a small area that we can use to kill the monsters as they file in. Then behind that, there's another narrow doorway and a second small area that we can fall back to if necessary. Behind that's the cave-in, which hopefully will be destroyed when General White dials back."

Baby Luigi said, "We also managed to roll some boulders in front of the entrance, so they won't be able to destroy the passageway as easily this time."

Kooper looked back and said, "Good, because I think they're coming."

Baby Mario stepped outside and looked to where Kooper was looking. A large portion of a mountain overhung part of the area out there, creating a dark area where monsters were amassing. "Oh man," he said. "It's an army."

"And as soon as it's nighttime," Kooper said, "they'll all come charging towards us."

"Hang on," Baby Mario said. "What if we shined our flashlights at them? Would that have the same effect as sunlight?"

"I doubt it," Baby Luigi said. "If it's purely a matter of how intense the light is, then maybe, but more likely it also has something to do with the wavelength and frequency of the light."

As the first ray of moonlight hit the world, the monsters began charging. "Here they come!" Kooper said.

"Get into position!" Baby Mario said. They quickly got back into the cave. Baby Mario and Baby Luigi went to the sides of the entranceway and readied their hammers.

A short few seconds later, the first zombie entered. Baby Mario smashed it with his hammer. Then a skeleton came in, which was quickly smashed to bits by Baby Luigi. The monsters were coming in a straight line, making them a perfect target for Kooper. The Koopa ducked into his shell, began whirling around in place, and then shot out towards the enemies, knocking them over like bowling pins and then quickly returning to the cave.

However, as soon as Kooper took out those monsters, more came to replace them. Baby Mario and Baby Luigi continued dispatching any monsters that came through, until a green monster with four legs came through. It made a hissing sound and began to expand. "WATCH OUT!" Baby Mario shouted. They just barely leapt out of range as the monster exploded, destroying the first area.

Tons of monsters then began to descend upon them.. Baby Mario threw a mini Bob-omb out at them, creating a small explosion that vaporized several monsters. The team then retreated into the second area. They took up the same positions as they did in the first area. Just behind them was the rubble beneath which the Caelestis lay buried. If this fell, they were cornered. Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, and Kooper braced themselves to meet the enemy force.

* * *

Lightyears away on Plit, General White stepped into the control room. He asked a technician, "How long has it been since Baby Mario was supposed to report?"

The technician responded, "We're coming up on half an hour."

"I don't like this," General White said. "Dial back to that planet."

"Yes sir," the technician said. He input the numbers for the planet that Caelestis Alpha was on into the remote and placed his hands over the control sphere. The chevrons on the Caelestis lit up, and a wormhole formed between the two planets.

Just as it did, rock began to fall through the Caelestis, flooding the Caelestis room! "Disengage the Caelestis!" General White ordered. The technician quickly placed his hands over the control sphere again, severing the connection between the two Caelestis. They then left the control room and stepped into the Caelestis room. General White looked over the Caelestis as the technician picked up some of the rock that had fallen through. "What is that?"

"Just rock, sir," the technician said. "The Caelestis on the other end must be buried…"

"Well, it wasn't buried when Caelestis Alpha went through," General White said. "Something happened to them. I want a meeting with the other Caelestis team leaders in thirty minutes."

"Yes, sir," the technician said.

* * *

Back on the alien planet, Caelestis Alpha prepared to hold out for as long as they could against the monsters. A zombie came through the opening, which Baby Mario promptly smashed. A creeper, one of the green-skinned monsters with the ability to explode, tried to come through, but Baby Luigi swung his hammer at it and knocked it back.

Suddenly, Kooper heard a noise like the Caelestis activating. "Guys!" Kooper shouted. "I think General White's dialed back!"

"Thank goodness," Baby Mario said. He grabbed his radio and said into it, "Caelestis Agency, this is Baby Mario! Do you read?" Suddenly, they heard the sound of the Caelestis deactivating.

"It disengaged!" Kooper said.

"If the Caelestis was buried face-up," Baby Luigi said as he smashed another skeleton's head, "then the cave-in would've begun to fall through the wormhole into Plit!"

"Gah…" Baby Mario muttered. "Well, we're cornered in here! We'll have to take our chances outside! I'll throw a mini Bob-omb through; as soon as it explodes, we advance forward and get out of this cave!"

"Got it!" Baby Luigi and Kooper said.

"Three, two, one, mark!" Baby Mario threw a mini Bob-omb through the narrow entranceway. It exploded in the middle of a horde of monsters, killing them and dispersing others away. Kooper then got into his shell and rocketed away, taking out any monsters still in their path. Baby Mario and Baby Luigi got out of the second area and made a break for the cave entrance.

Just when they almost reached the cave entrance, Baby Luigi was knocked to the ground from a zombie behind him! Baby Mario turned around and tried to go back for him, but he found that he was surrounded on all sides. He took out his hammer and prepared for what might be the final battle of his life, when suddenly, arrows began flying into the monsters!

Baby Mario turned to the cave entrance and saw four Humans in iron armor firing arrows at the monsters. The monsters diverted their attention to the Humans. They took out diamond swords and charged into the horde, slashing as many monsters as they could. They cleared a path for Baby Mario and Baby Luigi to escape.

The team got up to the cave entrance and saw dozens of monsters coming at them from within the cave. "Watch out!" Baby Mario shouted. He threw another mini Bob-omb into the cave and ducked. The mini Bob-omb exploded, causing a cave-in that buried the remaining enemies. Baby Mario then looked to the horizon and saw the sun rising. He sighed in relief.

"Wow, thanks," Kooper said to the four Humans. "Without you, I don't know what would've happened."

"It's no trouble," one of the Humans said. He took off his iron helmet and said, "My name is Nate. I'm the leader of the military of the village of Montefort." Pointing to his companions, he said, "This is Nick, Tyler, and Ridge." They all seemed to be in about their early 30s.

"I'm Baby Mario, leader of Caelestis Alpha. This is Baby Luigi and that's Kooper. We come from a world called Plit."

"You come from another planet?" Nick asked.

"Yeah," Baby Luigi said. "We use a device called the Caelestis. It facilitates instant travel between planets."

"Interesting," Nate said. "We have things like that. We call them portals. They allow us to go to the Nether."

"The Nether?" Kooper repeated.

"It's a dimension parallel to our own," Tyler said.

"If you want," Nate said, "we can take you to our village. You'll be protected from any monsters there, and we can explain things about our world on the way there."

"Well," Baby Mario said, "it doesn't seem like rescue is coming soon. Let's go."

* * *

On Plit, General White was in the meeting room of the Caelestis Agency, along with Quake, the leader of Caelestis Beta, Colonel Redington, the leader of Caelestis Gamma, and Penny Crygor, the leader of Caelestis Delta. The leader of Caelestis Epsilon was not there because Caelestis Epsilon was currently working negotiations with Earth, and the leader of Caelestis Alpha wasn't there for obvious reasons.

"General," Quake said, "the Yoshi Squadron is prepared for a search and rescue mission."

"We don't know what's happened on that planet," General White said. "What we do know is that somehow, that Caelestis got buried. Is there any way we could unearth it ourselves?"

"Maybe," Penny said. "We think that you can only go through the Caelestis one way. If you tried to enter it from the back side, you would just show up on the other side of the Caelestis; you wouldn't actually go through the wormhole. Since rock was falling through the Caelestis, I think that the Caelestis is buried facing up. We should be able to use focused explosives to destroy the rocks and then use a SASF to fly up to the surface."

"How long would it take to do that?" General White asked.

"Maybe a day to get the explosives needed," she said.

"Alright," General White said. "Quake, Caelestis Beta has a go for a search and rescue mission. Once you go through, we'll dial the Caelestis back every six hours after and get in contact with you."

"If there are hostiles there," Colonel Redington said, "you can count on Caelestis Gamma coming through to rescue you."

"Thanks, but we'll be the ones doing the rescuing," Quake said.

"Let's get to it," General White said. "Dismissed."

* * *

Caelestis Alpha had learned from Nate and his team that the world they were on was called Minecraftia. On Minecraftia, it was nearly noon. "So tell us about the monsters," Baby Mario said.

"They've been a constant menace to us for as long as we can remember," Nate said. "I've never seen them in such huge volumes before, though."

"Yeah, you must've really done something to make them angry," Ridge said.

"Maybe they somehow sensed the Caelestis opening," Baby Luigi said. "By the way, the control sphere for the Caelestis won't work. Neither will our advanced technology or magical power-ups. Do you know why?"

"Probably the Ender Dragon," Nick said.

"What's the Ender Dragon?" Kooper asked.

Nate explained, "It's a monstrous dragon who rules over the dimension we call the End. We think that he is the one who commands the monsters. His aura exerts a lot of influence on both Minecraftia and the Nether. Maybe that's what's preventing your technology or magic from working."

"Well, our super scopes worked," Kooper asked. "They're technology. Why would this Ender Dragon's aura stop advanced technology like the Caelestis but not less advanced technology like a super scope?"

Baby Luigi said, "Maybe it acts like an EMP that disables electrical devices, but our super scopes aren't electrical, so they'd be fine. Still, that doesn't explain why our power-ups won't work either."

A few minutes later, they came up over a hill. Nate pointed to the horizon and said, "There. Montefort." The village of Montefort was situated in a grassland at the foot of a mountain. It was basically five rows of buildings going from south to north. The first row had, from west to east, a large farm, a small wooden hut, another small wooden hut a short distance away, and a small farm. The second row had four wooden huts all in a row, and a short distance away, a large and a small farm. The third row had a large farm, a small hut, a large house a short distance away, and then a small house. The fourth row had a small house, a large house, a church a short distance away, and then a forge and a small house. In between the fourth and fifth rows was a small well. The fifth, north-most row had a church, a farm a short distance away, a small hut a short distance from there, and a small house. Gravel roads connected each building.

"Follow me," Nate said. They passed the first three rows and entered the forge. Nate reached into a chest and pulled out three sets of iron armor. "Here," he said, handing them out to Caelestis Alpha. "You'll need them." He then took out three diamond swords and gave them to the Plitians. Kooper accepted, but Baby Mario informed Nate that he and Baby Luigi had hammers which they were much more experienced in using.

Then, Nate took them to the large house in the third row. "This is my house," he said. "Sit and I'll get you something to eat." Caelestis Alpha along with Nate's companions sat down at a table. Nate brought multiple bowls of soup to the table.

"What is it?" Kooper asked.

"Mushroom stew," Nate said. "It's not as bad as it sounds."

Baby Mario cautiously tried some of it, and decided that it wasn't that bad. "So," he said, "what exactly will we need this armor for?"

"We have a plan to strike against the Ender Dragon," Ridge said. "We'll need your help to succeed, though."

After swallowing some of the mushroom stew, Kooper asked, "What's your plan?"

"The Ender Dragon's minions have several strongholds throughout Minecraftia," Tyler said. "In those strongholds, there are portals to the End, the Ender Dragon's realm."

"However," Nick said, "most of them are inactive. We need things called Eyes of Ender to reignite them."

"How do we get these Eyes of Ender?" Baby Luigi asked.

Nate said, "They can be made by combining two items: Blaze Rods and Ender Pearls. Blaze Rods are held by powerful monsters known as Blazes, which only exist in the alternate dimension we told you about, the Nether. Ender Pearls are held by monsters known as Endermen, which are rare but come out at night just as other monsters do. Once we have a sufficient amount of Eyes of Ender, we must assault the stronghold and use them to reignite the portal. Then, we'll have to go through the portal to the End and defeat the Ender Dragon."

"That sounds like a dangerous plan," Baby Mario said. "Do we have proof that the Ender Dragon is why our technology and power-ups won't work?"

Nate said, "I can think of no other reason. And besides, even if he's not, we did save you from that horde of monsters. I think you owe us for that."

"I suppose we do," Baby Mario said. "When do we start?"

"As soon as you are ready," Nate said. "We have a portal to the Nether ready."

Baby Mario looked at Baby Luigi and Kooper and said, "I'm ready if you guys are." They nodded, and Baby Mario turned back to Nate. "Let's do it."

Nate got up and said, "Follow me, then." He went to a corner of the house and tore up some floorboards, revealing a secret passage. Caelestis Alpha followed him and his companions down the passage until they got to what looked like an inactive portal. The portal was constructed out of obsidian blocks; it was four meters wide and stood five meters high, though the bottom part was embedded into the floor. Nate took out flint and steel and struck a fire inside the portal, igniting it. A purple vortex appeared within the portal. "Step inside," Nate said, "and you'll be transported to the Nether."

Baby Mario took a deep breath and said, "Alright. Let's do it." He stepped inside the portal. Nothing happened at first, but then his vision began to become distorted. After a few seconds, he stumbled out of the portal and saw that he was in an entirely different place.

The first thing that Baby Mario noticed upon emerging in the Nether was that it was a horrible place. There was blood red stone as far as the eye could see. There was no light in this realm except for the light given off by abundant lava streams. He looked to the side and saw what seemed to be a pig zombie. It stood at a height of two meters and wielded a golden sword. Half of its body had no skin; the bone underneath was clearly showing and rotting. The zombie pigman walked up to Baby Mario. Baby Mario quickly grabbed his hammer, in case this monster decided to attack. The zombie pigman looked over him for a few moments, and then walked away, seemingly uninterested.

By now, the rest of the team had come through the portal. "Where to?" Kooper asked.

"Blazes make their homes in areas we call nether fortresses," Nick said. "We'll have to find one."

"Do you know where one is?" Baby Luigi asked.

"No," Nick said. "We'll just have to explore until we find one."

"Well, let's get going," Baby Mario said.

The team explored in only a single direction so that if they got lost, they would only have to turn around before eventually stumbling back on the portal. After they crossed nearly a kilometer, they came upon a fortress made of blood red brick surrounded on all but one side by a massive lake of lava.

"This is it," Nate said. "A nether fortress."

"What should we expect in there?" Baby Mario asked, drawing his hammer.

"Zombie pigmen," Ridge said, "but they're not hostile unless you attack them first."

"It looks like a good part of this fortress is open to the air," Nate said. "What I'm most concerned about is…GET DOWN!" The team quickly ducked as a large fireball shot right over their heads and caused a massive explosion just behind them!

"What the heck was that?" Baby Mario exclaimed.

"Ghast!" Nate shouted. He pointed over to above the lava lake. There was a large, entirely white ghost-like entity with multiple tentacles floating there. "They patrol the Nether!"

The ghast shrieked and breathed another fireball at the team. Baby Mario readied his hammer and then slammed it into the fireball, sending it flying back at the ghast. The ghast tried to dodge, but failed and was hit by its own explosive. It shrieked in pain and launched another fireball. The team leapt to the sides to avoid the explosion. Tyler then took out a bow and fired an arrow at the ghast. The arrow hit its target dead-on, killing the ghast.

"Phew…" Nate said. "Ghasts are among the most dangerous creatures in all of Minecraftia. I'm surprised we didn't run into one earlier."

"Let's just get those Blaze Rods and get out of here," Baby Mario said. The team quickly made their way into the nether fortress. Nate led them through multiple corridors and passageways until they got to a small room. This room had stairs leading up to a raised platform, and fencing surrounding the platform that was made out of the same blood red brick material that the walls were made out of. There was a cage in the middle of the platform, from which flames would occasionally rise up.

"There," Nate said. "We call that a monster spawner. Monster spawners collect ambient energy from the environment, and once they have enough, they use that energy to form new monsters. This monster spawner should form Blazes." Sure enough, a puff of smoke went up from the monster spawner, and two bright orange monsters with multiple rods floating around them appeared.

The Blazes hovered up into the air and lit themselves on fire before each launching three fireballs at the team. The team ducked to avoid them. Baby Mario then leapt at a Blaze with his hammer drawn. He swung at the Blaze, which quickly hovered out of range. Baby Mario jumped forward a meter and swung his hammer overhead at the Blaze, which managed to just barely duck away. The Blaze then ignited itself again and shot three fireballs at Baby Mario. Baby Mario raised his hammer, and the fireballs hit the hammerhead, slightly heating it. Baby Mario then jabbed his fist forward in a feint attack, which made the Blaze hover to the side to avoid it, then quickly brought his hammer down on the Blaze, killing it. Baby Mario then turned to face the other Blaze.

Nate then threw three snowballs at the other Blaze, killing it. Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, and Kooper stared at Nate in surprise. "Blazes are weak to snowballs," Nate said.

"It would've been nice to know that a few minutes earlier," Baby Mario said.

Nate shrugged as Nick walked up to the corpses of the Blazes and took four intact Blaze Rods from them. "This should be enough," Nick said.

"Good," Baby Mario said. "Let's get out of this place."

About ten minutes later, the team made it back to the portal, and stepped in it to be transported back to Minecraftia. When they made it back, night had fallen over the land. As they exited Nate's house, Nate said, "It's nighttime. That's good; we can hunt Endermen."

"What do these Endermen look like?" Kooper asked.

Ridge said, "Nearly three meter tall monsters with extremely thin legs and arms. Their body is entirely a purplish-black color."

"I think I see one," Baby Mario said. He was looking just outside of the village, and made eye contact with the Enderman. It suddenly began to shake and spasm. Baby Mario turned away for a moment, and suddenly, the Enderman teleported right in front of him! "Woah!" Baby Mario exclaimed. He grabbed his hammer and swung it at the Enderman faster than it could react, knocking it out.

"Yeah," Tyler said. "They don't like it if you make eye contact with them."

"Another thing that would've been nice to know a few minutes earlier," Baby Mario said.

"On the plus side, they're not hostile unless you attack them or look at them," Ridge said.

Kooper said, "So you should just be able to go up to one and start attacking it out of the blue before it can react."

Baby Luigi said, "I see another one." He slowly walked up to it, being careful not to look at it. He then took his hammer out and swung at it, but hit nothing but thin air.

"Behind you!" Kooper shouted. The Enderman teleported behind Baby Luigi and knocked him to the ground. Baby Luigi jumped up and swung his hammer horizontally, but the Enderman teleported away again. Baby Luigi then quickly turned around and swung his hammer, managing to hit and knock out the Enderman just as it appeared there.

"Phew," Baby Luigi said as he wiped his brow. The sun began to come up over the horizon. While Baby Luigi was fighting that Enderman, Nate and Tyler had managed to kill another one, and Nick gathered three Ender Pearls from them.

"This should be enough," Nick said.

"How do we combine them into Ender Eyes?" Baby Mario asked.

"Watch," Nate said. He took the Blaze Rods and Ender Pearls from Nick. Suddenly, the Blaze Rods lit themselves on fire, but Nate wasn't burned from them. He inserted a Blaze Rod through the diameter of an Ender Pearl. The Ender Pearl then seemed to absorb the Blaze Rod into itself, becoming a green-blueish color and engraving a symbol which looked like an eye into the middle of it. He did this with the rest of the reagents as well and handed one Eye of Ender to each member of Caelestis Alpha.

"Alright," Baby Luigi said. "So now, we've got to head to a stronghold, right?"

"Right," Nate said. "There's one about three kilometers from here. Are you ready to go?"

"Well," Baby Mario said, "the sun's just coming up, so there's no better time to begin a three kilometer trek. Ready."

The group set off north. They crossed over the mountain that the village of Montefort was situated at the foot of. At the top of the mountain, Baby Mario took out his binoculars and looked in the distance. He looked to where Ridge was pointing and saw a stone-brick fortress embedded in a mountain in the distance. They began going down the mountain and then crossed through a large forest. After getting out of the forest, they only had to go a few hundred more meters through grassland to get to the stronghold.

"Here we are," Ridge said. The vast majority of the stronghold was buried under the mountain; only the entrance was revealed to the surface. The entrance was nearly at the base of the mountain and led upwards into the fortress.

"Anything we should know before going in?" Baby Mario asked.

"The monsters in here are what you'd normally see at night," Tyler said. "However, it's very easy to get lost in a stronghold. If we don't find the End Portal quickly, we could end up wandering around in there forever."

"Alright, then," Baby Mario said. He went up into the stone brick fortress. As he entered, he noticed that several of the bricks were cracked or had moss growing over them. He stepped into the main entrance area and almost immediately was met by a creeper! It expanded its body and was about to explode before Baby Mario knocked it away with his hammer, causing it to explode a good distance away, harmless to the team.

Caelestis Alpha took out their flashlights (which had started to run low on battery), and the Minecraftians took out torches to illuminate the area, occasionally placing the torches on the walls. They proceeded to the end of the first hallway and went through an open iron door to the side. This seemed to be some sort of small prison block; there were cells next to them and decomposing bones sitting in those cells. They went through this hall until they reached a rectangular area with a wooden roof, a ladder to the side, and some sort of well in the middle. There were three exits out of the room to the north, south, and west. Baby Luigi and Kooper went up the ladder and emerged in a small room with a treasure chest. Kooper checked the treasure chest. "Gold and iron," he said. "Cool." He took the minerals and went back down the ladder. "Which direction?" he then asked.

While Baby Luigi and Kooper looted the chest, Baby Mario had checked out the northern and western exits. "North's a dead end and west just leads out to the southern exit."

"Southern it is, then," Nate said. They went through the southern exit from the room and quickly reached another treasure chest.

Baby Luigi checked the chest and saw an apple, another Ender Pearl, and some sort of strange, glowing book. He took out the book and asked, "What's this?"

Nick took the book from Baby Luigi and examined it. "It's a book of enchanting. Powerful spellcasters can store magical enchantments in these kinds of books to use later. This one seems to hold an enchantment that causes anyone hit by a sword to be caught on fire."

"Cool!" Baby Mario said. "Does it work on hammers?"

"Maybe," Nick said. "Let's try it." Baby Mario took out his hammer and Nick held the book up to it. Baby Mario's hammer started glowing, and some sort of energy transfer took place between the book and the hammer. The book then stopped glowing, and Baby Mario's hammer now glowed a dim red color.

"Here comes someone to test it on," Kooper said. A zombie lumbered up behind Baby Mario. Baby Mario quickly whipped around and smashed the zombie with his hammer. The zombie was knocked back and caught on fire! The zombie tried to get closer to Baby Mario, but died from the fire.

"Nice!" Baby Mario said.

"How come enchantments like these work," Baby Luigi asked, "but our power-ups won't?"

"Maybe because the monsters themselves sometimes use enchantments," Tyler suggested.

"Our power-ups will work soon enough," Baby Mario said. "Let's get a move on."

The next room seemed to house some sort of fountain. There were eastern, southern, and western exits out of this room. Baby Mario quickly checked the eastern exit and saw that it just looped back on itself. "South or west?"

"Let's try west," Nate said. They went through the wooden door at the western exit and found themselves in another hallway with cells. They quickly went past it and emerged in another room with three exits.

"I see what you mean about getting lost in here," Baby Mario said.

"Let's just keep heading west," Kooper said. They did that and came across a staircase leading upwards, and at the top of it, a staircase leading downwards. They then proceeded through an open iron door and saw a unique room to the side. It had lava in the corners and a small elevated platform with a monster spawner on it. Also on the elevated platform were strange white blocks suspended above lava with blueish-green decorations on their top. They were arranged as the perimeter of a 5x5 square, just without the corners.

"This is it," Nate said. "This is the portal room."

"That was surprisingly easy," Baby Mario said. "I was expecting a hostile fortress full of enemies."

"It's not over yet," Nick said. "Look, a monster spawner. I think that this one will spawn monsters called silverfish." Suddenly, a small, silver bug-like monster spawned and started running towards Baby Luigi! Baby Luigi quickly smashed it with his hammer, and Baby Mario threw his hammer at the monster spawner, destroying it.

"Alright," Baby Mario said. He gave his Eye of Ender to Baby Luigi and said, "I'll hold the entrance while you guys ignite that portal."

Nate, Baby Luigi, and Kooper stepped up to the elevated platform. It seemed that nine of the strange blocks making up the portal had Eyes of Ender inserted into them already. "How do we ignite it?" Kooper asked.

"Place the Eyes of Ender you have into the blocks that don't have one," Nate said. Baby Luigi and Kooper did that, and in the center of the blocks, a pitch black portal with smoke rising up from it appeared. "That's it. Just jump down into the portal."

"Woah, are you sure?" Kooper asked. "I mean, there was…lava down there."

"I'm sure," Nate said. "I'll even go first." He stepped before the portal and then jumped down into it, quickly followed by his three teammates.

"Alright then, here goes," Kooper said. He took a deep breath, and then jumped into the portal. Baby Luigi followed after, and then Baby Mario ran up to the portal and jumped in too.

* * *

On Plit, Caelestis Beta and Caelestis Delta were on the runway underneath the control room and directly in front of the Caelestis. Caelestis Delta was adjusting something on a SASF. A few moments later, Penny said, "We're done! This SASF is now equipped with shaped explosives."

Caelestis Delta left the Caelestis room while Caelestis Beta loaded up onto the SASF. In the control room directly above, General White said to a technician, "Dial to the planet Caelestis Alpha is on."

The technician input the numbers into the remote and prepared to place his hands over the control sphere. "Ready?" he asked.

In the SASF, Quake and Zipper took the front seats, while Flare and Colorful took the back seats. Quake placed his finger over the button to fire the shaped explosives. "Ready," he said.

The technician activated the control sphere, and the Caelestis engaged. Dirt began to fall through the wormhole into Plit. Quake pushed the button, and a shaped Bullet Bill was fired from the SASF. It reached the Caelestis, and then the front of the explosive popped off. Flames then shot out through it, blasting the dirt on the other side upwards. Quake then fired another explosive, which managed to eject all of the dirt and create a clear path through the rubble. Flare looked at the sensors and said, "It seems like the other Caelestis is in a cave. I don't think the cave exit's big enough for the SASF to get out of it."

"Maybe the top of the cave is thin enough that we can blast through it to the surface," Zipper said. Quake fired another explosive through the Caelestis, which shot through the roof of the cave. Sunlight began filtering into the cave. Quake then fired their last explosive, and it completely destroyed the roof of the cave, creating a clear path to the surface.

General White said into a radio, "Caelestis Alpha, this is the Caelestis Agency. Do you read?" After a few moments, he said, "Baby Mario, this is General White. Are you there?" After a few more moments of no response, he said, "Caelestis Beta, you are go for launch. Report back every six hours."

"Got it," Quake said. "Let's do this." The engines of the SASF flared up, and then the aircraft shot through the Caelestis to another world. They flew up through the rubble surrounding the Caelestis and shot up several hundred meters into the air before changing their heading and flying straight.

"Something's wrong," Colorful said. "A lot of our instruments aren't working for some reason."

"Like what?" Zipper asked.

"Well, our sensors say that we're completely surrounded by stuff," Colorful said. He looked out through the window of the SASF and said, "Unless that stuff is air, the sensors are definitely bugging out on us."

"We don't need sensors," Quake said. "I think I see a village in the distance."

"One of the Old Kings' villages?" Flare asked.

"I'm not sure," he said. "No better way to find out than by going there."

Quake landed the SASF near the village. The Yoshi Squadron got out and entered the village. One of the villagers came up to them and asked, "Who are you?"

"We're Caelestis Beta," Quake said. "I'm Quake, this is Zipper, that's Flare, and that's Colorful. We come from a world called Plit."

"Plit…" the villager repeated. "Caelestis…" She seemed deep in thought, until she suddenly said, "Oh! Do you know people called Caelestis Alpha?"

"Yes!" Colorful said. "In fact, we've come here looking for them."

"They went to the End with four soldiers," the villager said.

"The End?" Zipper repeated.

"It is the realm of the Ender Dragon," the villager said. "He who has terrorized us for so many years. Your friends went to fight him."

Flare said, "From what I understand, last time Caelestis Alpha fought a dragon, they didn't exactly do too well."

Quake nodded. "They might need our help." He said to the villager, "How do we get to this End place?"

"There's a portal in a nearby stronghold," the villager said. She pointed northward and said, "Over that mountain and beyond the forest."

"Thanks. Let's get going, fast," Quake said. The team rushed back to their SASF and flew towards the stronghold.

* * *

Baby Mario emerged in the air and quickly fell to the ground. "Agh!" He got back up and surveyed the environment. It seemed to be an island made out of a white rock material. The island was completely surrounded by…nothing. Just a black void. Tons of Endermen were walking around, and several large obsidian pillars shot up into the air. On top of the obsidian pillars were strange floating cubes. "Everyone okay?"

"Yeah," the rest of the team said.

Nate said, "Make sure that you don't look at any of the Endermen. One Ender Dragon to fight is enough."

"No argument," Baby Mario said. He took out his binoculars and peered into the distance. He saw some sort of tiny black blob coming towards them. "I think it's coming." He put away the binoculars and took out his hammer.

A few seconds later, the air nearby began to shear. A massive dragon landed in front of the team. It was almost entirely black, with several gray scales and two purple eyes. It had a wingspan of easily over ten meters and effortlessly towered over Caelestis Alpha.

"Hi!" Baby Mario exclaimed. "Listen, these guys over here," he pointed at Nate and his team, "they've been telling me that you've not been acting too well. Apparently, you've been sending tons of monsters to harass and terrorize them. We came here to have a little chat about that."

The Ender Dragon roared and lifted off the ground, creating massive winds. Caelestis Alpha managed to hold their ground against the wind, but just barely. Baby Mario tossed his hammer with as much force as he could muster. The hammer shot into the Ender Dragon and bounced off, but it did catch the dragon on fire for a miniscule amount of time. This distraction caused the Ender Dragon to stop flapping its wings so hard, and Baby Luigi managed to leap up to it and strike it with his hammer. Kooper then did a Fire Shell attack on the Ender Dragon, causing it to roar in pain and fly up into the air.

Nate, Nick, Tyler, and Ridge took out their bows and shot arrows at the dragon. The Ender Dragon did strafing maneuvers to avoid them, then started charging right at the team. Everyone ducked to the side, and the Ender Dragon slammed right into the floor. Massive explosions shot out from the impact, knocking the team away even further. Baby Mario got up and leapt at the Ender Dragon, striking it with his hammer multiple times. The Ender Dragon turned its head and shot a fireball at Baby Mario. Baby Mario rolled away to dodge it, and the Ender Dragon flew up into the air again.

Suddenly, some sort of energy beam shot out from the strange cubes atop the obsidian towers into the Ender Dragon. "What's that?" Baby Luigi asked.

"It's a healing beam," Nate said. "We must destroy those devices!" The four Minecraftians used their bows to shoot arrows at the devices. However, none of them could get a hit before the Ender Dragon came at them again. Caelestis Alpha, Nate, and Ridge got away in time, but the explosions caused by the Ender Dragon's impact knocked Nick and Tyler unconscious.

Baby Mario quickly grabbed Nick's bow and threw Tyler's to Kooper. Baby Mario prepared to fire an arrow at one of the devices. He didn't have a lot of experience with bows, but he was reasonably certain that he could score a hit. Two arrows hit the obsidian beneath the device and one arrow soared over it before the Ender Dragon started charging at Baby Mario. Baby Mario took out his hammer and hit the Ender Dragon just as it got close. However, the dragon still hit Baby Mario, causing a small explosion and knocking the hero away.

"Agh, it's no good!" Baby Luigi said. "Any damage we do to it is healed, and we can't hit those cubes!"

"Try using the Ender Pearl we got from that chest!" Ridge said.

"How?" Baby Luigi asked.

"Throw it!" Nate said. "You'll be teleported to wherever it lands!"

"Alright," Baby Luigi said. He looked up at the towering obsidian pillar and doubted that he could throw it that far and high. "Cover me!" Baby Luigi ran forward towards the obsidian pillar. The Ender Dragon tried to charge at him, but was driven off by arrows from Kooper and Nate.

Baby Luigi reached the base of the tower. He threw the Ender Pearl underhand into the air. A short few seconds later, he was suddenly teleported to the top of the obsidian pillar. He took out his hammer and smashed the cube, disrupting its energy flow to the Ender Dragon.

Baby Luigi then heard something like, "Watch out!", but he couldn't quite make out what it was. Suddenly, the Ender Dragon slammed into him! Baby Luigi fell off the pillar, shooting down dozens of meters, before smashing into the cold, hard ground, nearly unconscious.

"BABY LUIGI!" Baby Mario and Kooper shouted. They had tried to fire arrows at the Ender Dragon to drive it away from Baby Luigi, but he was too high up and they couldn't get a hit. The two rushed towards Baby Luigi while Nate and Ridge attempted to hold off the dragon. Baby Mario quickly took Baby Luigi's pulse. "He's alive," Baby Mario said.

"I think he's broken a bone!" Kooper said.

Baby Mario felt Baby Luigi's knees and arms and said, "Not just one bone. We have to end this fast and get him back to Plit." Baby Mario took out his medical kit and quickly gave some medicine to Baby Luigi for the pain. He looked to the side and saw a small alcove. "Let's get him over there," he said.

Baby Mario and Kooper placed Baby Luigi under the small alcove so that he would be relatively protected from the fight. They then rushed back out into the open and saw that Ridge was knocked out. Nate was desperately firing arrows at the Ender Dragon, who was charging at Nate. Kooper got into his shell and engulfed it with fire. Baby Mario then slammed his hammer into Kooper, sending Kooper flying at a massive velocity towards the Ender Dragon. The impact made the Ender Dragon roar in pain and fly off.

Baby Mario rushed up to Kooper and Nate, only to see the Ender Dragon getting healed by another cube device. "We got to figure out some way to destroy those cubes," Baby Mario said.

"Could you launch me high enough to get on top of the pillars?" Kooper asked.

"I doubt it, and even then, you'd only be opening yourself up to attack like Baby Luigi did," Baby Mario said. "This isn't good…"

* * *

Caelestis Beta landed their SASF near the mountain and got out of it. As they stood at the entrance to the stronghold, Zipper asked, "Sure this is it?"

"If it isn't, we'll find out," Quake said. The team got out their flashlights and rushed inside the stronghold.

"Hey, there are torches on the wall here," Flare said.

"Maybe Caelestis Alpha placed them," Colorful said. "We should follow them."

The rest of the team agreed, and they ran down the hallways of the stronghold, following the torches. Eventually, they came across the same portal room that Caelestis Alpha did. "Think this is the way to the End?" Colorful asked.

"One way to know for sure," Quake said. He took a deep breath and then jumped into the portal, shortly followed by the other members of his team. He emerged on a white rock island, surrounded by nothing but darkness. Not two seconds after he arrived, there was an explosion. Caelestis Beta looked to the source of the explosion and saw Baby Mario and Kooper flying away from it. "That's them!"

The Yoshi Squadron rushed to Baby Mario and helped him up. "Quake?" Baby Mario asked. "Zipper? Flare, Colorful…you came to help us!"

"That's right!" Quake said. "Now, let's take down a dragon!"

"Wait!" Baby Mario said. He pointed up to the top of the obsidian pillars and said, "He's being healed by those cube devices!"

"Zipper, Flare, Colorful, take those out," Quake said. The three Yoshis nodded. Quake reached into a bag and took out three super scope clips. "Here."

"Thanks," Baby Mario said. He reloaded his super scope with a clip and tossed the other two clips to Kooper. The Ender Dragon came charging at them, but Baby Mario raised his super scope and fired three bullets at it, causing it to roar in pain and fly off.

Zipper used his speed to zoom up an obsidian pillar before gravity could pull him down. He then punched the cube device, causing it to explode. Colorful took out a whiteboard and drew a Bullet Bill on it, causing that Bullet Bill to come to life and rocket at a cube device, while Flare shot fireballs at the devices and Baby Mario and Kooper shot them with their super scopes. Within a few minutes, all of the cube devices had been destroyed.

"Yeah!" Baby Mario said. "Now, time to end this!" The Ender Dragon came charging at them again. Baby Mario and Quake leapt at the Ender Dragon; Baby Mario smashed his hammer into it and Quake delivered a massive punch to it. The Ender Dragon roared in pain again and tried to fly upwards, but before it could gain much altitude, Kooper slammed into it in a Fire Shell attack and Flare had launched multiple fireballs at it. Zipper then zoomed up to it and delivered a flurry of hundreds of quick punches. The Ender Dragon tried to shoot a fireball at Baby Mario, but the hero knocked it back with his hammer. Nate then leapt up at the Ender Dragon and smashed his diamond sword into the dragon's skull. The Ender Dragon completely froze, and rays of light began coming out of it. It hovered into the air, and then blew up in a magnificent explosion.

"YES!" Baby Mario and Kooper shouted.

"We did it!" Nate said.

Baby Mario said to the Yoshi Squadron, "We wouldn't have done it without you guys."

"Thanks," Quake said.

"There's a portal back to Minecraftia over there," Nate said, "created by the demise of the Ender Dragon."

"Alright," Baby Mario said. "Kooper, help me take Baby Luigi. Caelestis Beta, carry Nick, Tyler, and Ridge through the portal."

"Got it," came the response.

* * *

Back at Montefort, Caelestis Alpha and Beta stood at the entrance to the village, with their SASF just behind them. Baby Luigi had several casts over his legs and arms, but he was able to stand. Nick, Tyler, and Ridge had come to during the flight back to the village and were now conscious.

"People of Montefort," Nate shouted, "we return victorious! No longer shall the Ender Dragon menace us!"

The villagers all broke out into cheering and clapping. Nate walked up to Baby Mario and clasped his hand. "We can't thank you enough," Nate said. "Without you, we certainly wouldn't have succeeded."

"Aw, it was nothing," Baby Mario said.

"With the Ender Dragon gone," Tyler said, "no new monsters should be created. We only have to deal with the ones that exist now."

"If you'd like," Kooper said, "we could send Caelestis Gamma here to help you clean up the remaining monsters."

Quake said, "We'll also be back to check up on you occasionally."

"And," Baby Mario said, "Caelestis Epsilon will probably be here soon to set up trade agreements between Plit and Minecraftia."

"Yeah, I could use a flame enchantment for my hammer," Baby Luigi said.

"We look forward to it," Nate said.

"Well," Quake said, "Baby Mario, you've got a lot of people worried back on Plit. Let's get back there."

"Wait," Baby Mario said. "I want to test something." He took out a Cape Feather and used it. A yellow magical cape appeared on his back.

Kooper said, "Without the influence of the Ender Dragon, our power-ups and Poké Balls should be working again."

"And," Baby Mario said, "the Caelestis. We can finally go home."

"Let's go," Kooper said. The team loaded up into the SASF. Baby Mario did a running start, and then flew up into the air using the Cape Feather. The SASF launched up into the sky and flew back towards the Caelestis alongside him.


	5. Takeover

Baby Mario itched his eye once again, trying to get the sand out of it. His team, Caelestis Alpha, was currently exploring what appeared to be a desert world. Sand covered the planet and extended for as far as they could see. Baby Mario was currently patrolling around the Caelestis, while Kooper was nearby digging in the sand and Baby Luigi was exploring about two hundred meters away.

Baby Mario stepped towards Kooper and looked at his watch. "It's about time to call it," Baby Mario said.

"Wait, hang on," Kooper said. "I think I've figured out something. There's ruins and artifacts here." He pointed inside the hole he had dug. Baby Mario saw some sort of buried metal object there. "Obviously, a civilization must've existed here before."

"Right," Baby Mario said, "but we've been on this planet for three days. Caelestis Alpha's mission is to be the first team to explore new planets and determine if there are any threats on these planets. Obviously, there's no threat on this planet. You can come back with Caelestis Delta in a few days if you want to continue excavating."

"Alright," Kooper said. He got up and grabbed his backpack nearby, then began walking to the Caelestis.

Baby Mario took out his radio and said into it, "Baby Luigi, where are you?"

"I think I found something," he replied.

"What is it?" Baby Mario asked.

"Some sort of structure," Baby Luigi said. "Look towards the sun. You see that large sand dune? I'm on the other side of it."

"Got it. Be there soon." Baby Mario motioned to Kooper, and the two started going towards where Baby Luigi was.

Baby Luigi was standing in front of the sand dune. Just in front of him, embedded into the dune, was some sort of entranceway made out of sandstone. He stepped inside the entranceway and walked into the structure. This structure was completely buried under the sand, and the walls seemed to be made out of sandstone. From what Baby Luigi could see, there was only one room. It was circular with a radius of about twenty meters, and some sort of hieroglyphs were etched into the walls. What was in the center of the room was what was most interesting, though. It was some sort of metallic device. Baby Luigi stepped up to it and took a look at it. It looked almost like a telescope; a cylindrical metal bar stood a few feet off the ground. One of the ends of the bar seemed to be made out of glass, but the other end was metal. Baby Luigi knelt down and brushed away sand around the base of the device. The floor was also metal which seemed to be connected to the device. Baby Luigi looked into the device.

A red laser then lanced out from the device into Baby Luigi's eye. Baby Luigi instinctively recoiled back, but he felt no harm from the laser. Then, he heard a thud from behind the device. He looked behind it and saw…him. An exact replica of him, only made entirely out of metal. The metal copy of him seemed to be unconscious.

Just then, Baby Mario and Kooper came in. "What's this?" Baby Mario asked.

"I'm not sure," Baby Luigi said. "Don't look into that thing, though."

"Why not?" Baby Mario came to where Baby Luigi was, while Kooper started to look at the hieroglyphs on the walls. When Baby Mario saw the metallic clone of Baby Luigi lying unconscious on the floor, he exclaimed, "Woah."

"I looked into the device," Baby Luigi said. "Some sort of laser hit me, and then I saw…this."

"Is…it hostile?" Baby Mario asked.

"I'm not sure," Baby Luigi said. He searched his metal copy and found nothing.

Suddenly, the metal copy grabbed Baby Luigi's hands and looked straight at him. "Help…me…" the metal copy said. It then collapsed.

* * *

Caelestis Alpha had brought the metal clone of Baby Luigi back to Plit and placed him in an isolation room. Caelestis Alpha and General White were in an observation room overlooking the isolation room. The metal copy was wandering around aimlessly.

"Uncanny resemblance, eh?" Baby Mario asked.

Just then, a doctor came in. "Sir," he said to General White, "we did a full X-ray and body scan of the metal clone. From what we can tell, he has no weapons, explosives, or anything of the sort."

"Thank you," General White said. The doctor left.

"So what do we do?" Kooper asked.

"On the planet," Baby Luigi said, "I did a quick search of…it for any weapons. It grabbed me and told me to help it."

"What does it need help with?" Kooper asked.

"Baby Mario, find out," General White said.

"Got it," Baby Mario said. He left the observation room, went out into the hallway, and stepped in front of the isolation room door. He took out his card, swiped it on a card reader, and then placed his thumb in a fingerprint reader. A red light above the door changed color to green, and Baby Mario entered the isolation room.

The isolation room was circular and had a desk with two chairs in the middle. It also had a small bed off to the side and had rubber padding across the walls. The metal clone observed Baby Mario as he stepped up towards the desk and sat down.

"Sit down," Baby Mario offered. The metal clone wearingly walked over to the other chair and sat down in it. "First things first. Who are you?"

"Who is the one I copied?" the metal clone asked.

"His name is Baby Luigi," Baby Mario said.

"Then you may call me Metal Baby Luigi," the metal clone said.

"Kind of a mouthful," Baby Mario commented. "Okay, Metal Baby Luigi. Why did you copy Baby Luigi?"

"He was the first one to look into the device," Metal Baby Luigi said. "You see, my civilization was on the brink of extinction. In order to preserve our legacy, we created the device to form a metal clone of the first person to look into it. This metal clone would have all the memories and knowledge of our civilization. The creators of the device hoped that this metal clone may be able to eventually restart our civilization on another planet, or at least pass on our knowledge to another civilization."

"How can I know you're telling the truth?" Baby Mario asked.

"Give me something to draw on," Metal Baby Luigi said. Baby Mario motioned up to the observation room. A few moments later, Kooper came into the room bearing large construction paper and a marker. He laid the construction paper on the desk and gave the marker to Metal Baby Luigi. Metal Baby Luigi then began drawing on the construction paper. After a few minutes, he finished.

Baby Mario looked at the drawing. It seemed to be a blueprint of some sort. Multiple diagrams and schematics were written on the paper. "What is it?" Baby Mario asked.

"It is a schematic for an advanced energy weapon," Metal Baby Luigi said. "Take it to your scientists."

"And you're just going to give this to us?" Baby Mario asked. "Free of charge?"

"As I said, I was created for the purpose of carrying on my civilization's legacy. If giving you this technology for free fulfills that purpose, then I shall do that."

Baby Mario nodded in suspicion, and then left the room with the blueprint in hand.

* * *

A few hours later, Caelestis Alpha and Caelestis Delta were in the meeting room with General White. Penny said, "We've taken a look at the blueprints. They seem theoretically feasible, but we would need elementium, the super-durable element you discovered on Pehram's planet, to build the weapon."

"How much would we need?" Baby Mario asked.

"More than we have," Penny said.

"And we don't have a source of elementium," General White said. Just then, a knock on the door was heard. "Come in."

A purple Yoshi walked in, flanked by two Human guards. "General White, it's an honor to be in your facility," the purple Yoshi said.

"Ms. Magium," General White said. "Please, have a seat."

The purple Yoshi sat down across from Baby Mario. "So, you are…?" Baby Mario asked.

"Viola Magium," the Yoshi said. "National Intelligence Agency. I've come to table a request."

"What is that?" General White asked.

"This metal clone of Baby Luigi that you discovered," Viola said, "you say that he has all the knowledge of the civilization that created him?"

"He claims that," Baby Mario said.

"Well then," Viola said, "I would like to request that Metal Baby Luigi be transported to National Intelligence Agency Headquarters for questioning. If it's true that he has all the knowledge of that destroyed civilization, and if it's true that this civilization was advanced enough to create powerful energy weapons like the one that he drew up the schematics for, then this could be the most important discovery since the Caelestis was unearthed."

Baby Mario said, "I don't oppose it, but I'm not sure that we should be moving him so soon."

"Agreed," General White said. "We'll release Metal Baby Luigi to the NIA for questioning in one week. In the meantime, Baby Luigi, I believe you have a meeting with the princess."

"You do?" Baby Mario asked.

"Yep," Baby Luigi said. "It's been just over two months since our first mission. I'm going to report to the princess on how it's been going since then."

"Well, I don't mean to disrespect you or anything," Baby Mario said, "but I'm the leader of the team. Why wouldn't she ask me to brief her?"

General White said, "The princess is most interested in the potential new technology and power-ups that we can get from the Caelestis. Baby Luigi is the most qualified to brief her on that. Besides, Baby Mario, if something happens with the clone, we need you here."

"Alright," Baby Mario said.

"I'll be back in a few days," Baby Luigi said.

"Dismissed," General White said. Everyone in the meeting got up, saluted, and then left.

* * *

Several days had passed since Metal Baby Luigi was first brought back to Plit. So far, nothing bad had happened. Metal Baby Luigi had revealed a lot of information to Baby Mario, including the state and technology level of his civilization just before they were destroyed. Currently, he was telling Baby Mario how his civilization had been destroyed.

"We had discovered the Caelestis," Metal Baby Luigi said. "We sent an expeditionary force through it. The expedition was met by hostile aliens; a species called the Old Kings."

"Not the coolest guys around, huh?" Baby Mario asked.

Metal Baby Luigi shook his head. "Months later, a starship appeared in orbit of our planet. We prepared our planetary defense satellites, but the satellites were easily destroyed. The starship then fired powerful weapons, bombarding our cities from orbit. Within ten minutes, every major city on our planet was destroyed."

"Dang," Baby Mario said. "And how long ago did this happen?"

"I believe about 20,000 years ago," Metal Baby Luigi said.

"Wow," Baby Mario said. "You know, if the Old Kings attacked us now, we would be in no better position to defend ourselves than you guys were."

Metal Baby Luigi continued, "My people, in an attempt to continue their legacy, created a device. This device would create a metal clone of the first person to look into it. As I told you, this metal clone would have all the knowledge and memories of my civilization. I am that metal clone, and my mission is to preserve my peoples' legacy."

"Well," Baby Mario said, "no offense, but wouldn't it have been easier to just create some sort of database that we could download?"

"My people wanted to ensure that their knowledge did not fall into the Old Kings' or any other enemies' hands," Metal Baby Luigi said. "Within my person is a memory storage unit. It contains the entirety of my peoples' knowledge. I am prepared to give it to you, provided you pledge to put it to good use."

"We'll use that knowledge and technology to fight the Old Kings," Baby Mario said. "Your people might be able to get some sort of retribution through us."

Just then, the door opened. General White, Viola, and two guards came in. "Baby Mario," General White greeted.

Metal Baby Luigi stood up and said, "You are General White, the commanding officer of this facility. Correct?"

"That's correct," General White said. "I've come to tell you to prepare for transport."

"Where?" Metal Baby Luigi said.

"To a place called NIA HQ," General White said. "There, you'll be questioned about your civilization and their knowledge. Don't worry. I assure you that you will be treated with the utmost respect at all times." Viola nodded.

Metal Baby Luigi said, "I'm sorry, but that's unacceptable."

Baby Mario looked surprised at this. So far, Metal Baby Luigi had been fully cooperative. "I don't think you have a choice."

"Yes, I do," Metal Baby Luigi said. He moved his fist up. A ring then suddenly materialized on his index finger. He pointed the ring at Baby Mario, and a laser shot out from it. Baby Mario ducked to the side, but was hit and knocked out by it. The guards quickly grabbed their super scopes, but Metal Baby Luigi fired the ring laser at them too, knocking them out. General White and Viola tried to get away, but they too quickly got shot by the laser.

Then, next to the unconscious bodies of the Plitians, metal began pooling. Then, the metal formed into metal clones. Metal Baby Mario, Metal General White, Metal Viola, and two metal clones of the guards formed and looked to Metal Baby Luigi. Metal Baby Luigi nodded, and the clones left the isolation room.

Meanwhile, in his room, Kooper was looking at pictures of the hieroglyphs that were on the walls of the room with the device on the alien planet. He tapped one of the hieroglyphs, and then took out a book and looked through it. Kooper then looked back at the picture in sudden realization. He quickly left the room and started dashing to the isolation room.

Kooper ran past two guards who were walking through the hallway. Just then, a laser shot out, barely missing him! Kooper ducked to the ground as the two guards behind him pulled out super scopes. Two lasers hit the guards, knocking them out. Metal pooled near their bodies, and then formed into metal clones of the guards. Another laser lanced near Kooper, just barely missing. Kooper ducked into his shell and dashed away.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the top of Peach's Castle, Baby Luigi was speaking with Princess Peach, monarch of the Mushroom Kingdom. "So you see, your highness," Baby Luigi said, "in just the two months that we've been running the Caelestis Agency, we've already come across some amazing discoveries. Poké Balls and elementium are just the tip of the iceberg."

"Good job, Baby Luigi," Princess Peach said. "It looks like our gamble to use the Caelestis is paying off."

"Yes, ma'am, it is," Baby Luigi said.

"Thank you," Peach said. "You may leave now."

Baby Luigi bowed, and then left the room. He went down to the base floor of the castle and went back down to the Caelestis Agency. Just as he stepped out of the elevator into the meeting room, a laser shot by his head! Baby Luigi quickly rolled to the side and pulled out his hammer. Another laser was shot at him, barely missing. Baby Luigi looked at the attacker and saw that it was a metal clone of Colonel Redington, the leader of Caelestis Gamma. Baby Luigi leapt at the Metal Redington and smashed his hammer into him, knocking him to the floor. Metal Redington tried to fire another laser at Baby Luigi, but Baby Luigi smashed his hammer into the clone, shattering its fist. Baby Luigi then swung his hammer at Metal Redington's head, severely denting it and knocking it out.

"What the heck was that?" Baby Luigi asked out loud. He looked to the side and saw Colonel Redington laying on the ground unconscious. He rushed to the Toad and shook him, trying to wake him up.

Colonel Redington quickly woke up and asked, "Woah. What's happened?"

"I'm not sure," Baby Luigi said. "I was hoping you could tell me."

Redington wiped his brow and said, "I was just going to see General White, when some sort of metal clone, like the one you found on that planet, came. I fired at it, but the bullets didn't do anything. Then, it fired some sort of laser at me, and…here I am now."

"Some sort of metal clone takeover," Baby Luigi said. He took out his radio and said into it, "This is Baby Luigi. Anyone, come in."

Kooper's voice came out through the radio. "Baby Luigi, I read you!"

"Kooper!" Baby Luigi said. "What the heck's going on?"

"Come to just outside my room," Kooper said. "I'll explain everything!"

"Alright," Baby Luigi said.

"I'll lead the way," Colonel Redington said, grabbing his super scope. He got up and then led Baby Luigi through the hallways of the Caelestis Agency.

* * *

A level down, in the control room, Metal Baby Luigi was standing in front of the glass pane overlooking the Caelestis. Metal Baby Mario and Metal General White came up to him. Metal Baby Mario said, "The cloning room has been completed."

Metal Baby Luigi turned around and said, "Good. Begin mass manufacturing immediately."

Metal General White said, "It seems that we have not managed to neutralize all the Plitians. One Koopa got away, and we believe that another Human has entered the compound."

"Then capture them," Metal Baby Luigi said. "They will not stand in our way." Metal Baby Mario and Metal General White nodded.

Meanwhile, just outside of the living area, Baby Luigi and Colonel Redington met up with Kooper. "What's going on?" Baby Luigi asked.

"I managed to translate some of the writings on the walls of the alien planet," Kooper said. "It was a warning of some sort. I'm not sure what exactly it was warning against, but I have a good idea."

"What's with all the metal clones running around?" Baby Luigi asked.

"I think that Metal Baby Luigi created them," Kooper saw. "I was rushing to the isolation room, when I saw two metal clones. They fired lasers at two guards, and those guards were instantly knocked out. Then, metal clones of those guards formed. I just barely managed to get away before they cloned me too."

"If that's the case," Colonel Redington said, "then we have a foothold situation. We cannot allow these metal clones to spread outside the facility. We must arm the self-destruct."

"Woah, isn't that a bit extreme?" Kooper asked. "Certainly, we can-"

"He's right," Baby Luigi interrupted. "We can't let them escape."

"Self-destruct's two levels down," Redington said.

"Hang on," Baby Luigi said. He went inside Kooper and Baby Mario's rooms and came out a short while later with their Poké Balls. He gave Kooper Mudkip's Poké Ball and said, "Super scopes don't seem to work against these clones. Poké Balls are our most concealable weapons."

"Let's go," Redington said.

The trio made their way through the halls of the agency, getting closer to the self-destruct room. Just outside that room, two metal clones stood guard. Kooper smashed into one with his shell, and Baby Luigi smashed one to the ground with his hammer. Redington then rushed inside the room. A few seconds later, he said, "Clear." Baby Luigi and Kooper walked inside the room.

The self-destruct room had a massive nuclear Bob-omb in the center of it and tons of computers surrounding it. A nuclear Bob-omb was a special type of Bob-omb that was much more powerful than an ordinary Bob-omb. The exterior was the same, save for being much larger than an ordinary bomb, but the interior was much different. Instead of using chemical explosives like trinitrotoluene, a nuclear Bob-omb used nuclear fusion in order to create extremely powerful explosions. A nuclear Bob-omb basically consisted of two parts. In the first part, a neutron was fired at uranium, splitting the uranium and creating a large explosion equivalent to several thousand ordinary Bob-ombs. This explosion then creates the necessary pressure and temperature in the second part of the Bob-omb in order to induce fusion in the deuterium and tritium, creating a massive explosion millions of times more powerful than an ordinary Bob-omb. This nuclear Bob-omb was big enough to completely collapse the Caelestis Agency, but small enough to not do any damage to Peach's Castle or Toad Town above. Baby Luigi and Colonel Redington went to opposite ends of the Bob-omb, took out two keys each, and inserted the keys into keyholes on the nuke. Colonel Redington turned to one of the computers and typed something into it, then said, "I'm setting the self-destruct for five minutes."

"Got it," Baby Luigi said. He turned around to a computer and entered a code into it.

Colonel Redington then entered a code into his computer. The lights of the Caelestis Agency turned to a dark red color, and a computerized voice came through the intercom, "Self-destruct set. Five minutes."

Colonel Redington then got onto the intercom and said, "Metal Baby Luigi, or whoever is commanding the metal clones, this is Colonel Redington. As you may have heard, we have set the self-destruct of this base. If you do not immediately stand down and surrender, we will let the nuke detonate, destroying all of us."

"Guys!" Kooper shouted. Metal clones began pouring into the room. Baby Luigi took out his hammer and leapt at the clones, smashing as many as he could. Lasers started lancing into the room, barely missing the trio. Kooper got into his shell and started attacking the clones, while Redington got behind a computer terminal and took out a super scope belt with hundreds of bullets in it from his backpack. He equipped the belt and hooked it up to his super scope. He then began firing as much as he could at the clones. The bullets dug into the clones, penetrating a few inches, but the clones shook them off.

"Self-destruct in three minutes," the computerized voice said over the intercom. Baby Luigi jumped behind Kooper, Kooper ducked into his shell, and Baby Luigi smashed his hammer into Kooper. Kooper rocketed forward in his shell, slamming into one of the clones and ricocheting off of it into several others. Just then, a laser hit Kooper's shell. Kooper collapsed, and a metal clone of the Koopa formed.

"We're being overrun!" Baby Luigi shouted.

The voice came through the intercom, "Self-destruct in two minutes."

Colonel Redington fired a few more bullets at the clones, then shouted, "Detonate the nuke now!" They rushed to the Bob-omb, looked at each other, and each silently counted down from three. They then closed their eyes and turned the keys on the nuke.

After several seconds, Baby Luigi opened his eyes again and looked around. Nothing had happened. He looked at the keys and confirmed that they were both turned fully. So why didn't the Bob-omb detonate?

Just then, Metal Baby Mario and Metal General White came into the room, pointing their laser rings at Baby Luigi and Colonel Redington. "Surrender!" Metal Baby Mario shouted.

Baby Luigi looked over at Redington, who nodded. They laid down their weapons and held their hands in the air.

* * *

A few minutes later, Metal Baby Mario and Metal General White had escorted Baby Luigi and Redington to General White's office. They forced the two inside, then stood guard outside. Metal Baby Luigi was sitting in General White's leather chair, looking at some papers on the desk. "Interesting facility you have here," Metal Baby Luigi said.

"What's going on?" Colonel Redington demanded. "Why didn't the self-destruct detonate?"

"Oh, I took control of your computers a long time ago," Metal Baby Luigi said. "I simply overrode your destruct command."

"Why are you doing this?" Baby Luigi said. "I thought the Old Kings destroyed your civilization. I thought you wanted to help us fight them."

"The Old Kings had nothing to do with my peoples' destruction," Metal Baby Luigi said. "About 20,000 years ago, a scientist created a metal clone of himself in an experiment. The clone had one directive: to reproduce. The clone developed these cloning rings that we're using. Basically, these rings fire a laser that instantly incapacitate and create a metal clone of the target. Using the cloning rings, we eventually began to overrun the planet, destroying our creators. Our creators detonated massive radiation bombs over the surface of their entire planet in order to destroy us, but at the cost of their own lives. Before we were destroyed, though, we created a device that would create a clone of the next person to look into it, so that we could restart on another world."

"So you're going to do to Plit what you did to your original creators' planet," Baby Luigi said. "You're going to create metal clones of the entire population and overrun us."

"And then," Metal Baby Luigi motioned towards the Caelestis, "we'll use the Caelestis to spread to other worlds. We'll conquer the populations of those worlds. Eventually, we'll spread throughout the galaxy. Then, to other galaxies. Nothing will stop us."

"Unless we stop you before that happens," Redington said.

"Oh, I doubt that'll happen," Metal Baby Luigi said. "Take a look at your situation. Your frontline and only defense facility has been conquered."

"Well, if the Old Kings didn't destroy your people, then how did you know about them?" Baby Luigi asked. "How did you know how to get into our computers?"

"When I told you that I had all the knowledge of the civilization that created me," Metal Baby Luigi said, "I neglected to tell you that I also had all of your knowledge and memories. Each clone obtains the knowledge and memories of the original. That's how I knew." Metal Baby Mario and Metal General White then came in. "Take them to the cloning room."

Metal Baby Mario and Metal General White forced Baby Luigi and Colonel Redington out of the room. They escorted them down the hallways of the Caelestis Agency until they reached one of the armories. Metal Baby Mario placed his hand onto a device next to the door, unlocking it. They then entered the room. Apparently, the clones had renovated this place. There were rows and rows of metal beds, with Caelestis Agency personnel chained to them. Multiple wires led into their bodies. Just then, lasers fired into the personnel, creating metal clones of them. The clones bowed, and then marched out of the room. About fifteen seconds later, more lasers fired, creating more clones.

"They're mass producing clones," Baby Luigi said. He looked to the front row and saw Baby Mario, General White, Viola, and Kooper, each bound to the devices and unconscious.

Metal Baby Mario and Metal General White began searching Baby Luigi and Redington for weapons. Baby Luigi then smashed his knee into Metal Baby Mario's face, sending the clone staggering backwards. Metal General White tried to fire a laser at Baby Luigi, but Baby Luigi took out a Poké Ball and aimed it at Metal General White. The laser hit the Poké Ball and harmlessly dissipated across its surface. Baby Luigi then activated the Poké Ball, summoning Baby Mario's Charmander. Charmander fired a burst of flame at Metal General White, causing the metal clone to fall to the ground. Baby Luigi then leapt at Metal Baby Mario and smashed the clone's face in with his hammer.

"Nice job," Colonel Redington said.

"Charmander, start freeing people from these things," Baby Luigi said. Charmander nodded and fired flame attacks at Baby Mario's bonds, causing him to fall to the ground.

"Woah!" Baby Mario said. He quickly jumped to his feet and looked around, then calmed down when he saw no hostiles. "What's going on?"

"The metal clones have taken over the base," Colonel Redington said.

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Baby Mario said. "Let's get some more people free." Baby Mario and Redington rushed to free members of Caelestis Gamma, while Charmander burned off Viola's restraints.

"Guys!" Baby Luigi shouted. Reinforcements for the metal clones were coming. Baby Luigi smashed his hammer into a metal clone of Viola, and Charmander incinerated another clone of Baby Mario.

"What's going on?" Viola asked, cradling her head with her hand.

"We'll explain," Baby Luigi said. "Let's get out of here." Baby Mario and Colonel Redington had managed to free three members of Caelestis Gamma. The team rushed to the entrance of the room and took out the first wave of reinforcements.

"More are coming!" Baby Luigi said.

"Come on, let's go!" Redington shouted. "Move!"

"Wait," Baby Mario said. He grabbed the body of his metallic clone and began dragging it with him. The team then rushed out of the room and down the halls. Baby Luigi dispatched any clones they came across using his hammer, and made it to the meeting room. They rushed inside the elevator, which shot up to Peach's Castle.

Just then, Metal Baby Luigi walked up to the elevator. Dozens of metal clones rushed into the meeting room. "They already escaped," Metal Baby Luigi said.

One of the clones said, "We are sorry."

"It doesn't matter," Metal Baby Luigi said. "We attack the surface soon."

* * *

About half an hour later, the team was in Peach's Castle. A lockdown had been instituted over the entire castle, and dozens of soldiers stood guard just outside the entrance to the Caelestis Agency.

Baby Mario entered a room of the castle, where Baby Luigi was. "Hey, Baby Mario," Baby Luigi greeted. "Figured out anything from the clone we captured?"

"Nah, he won't speak," Baby Mario said. "It's strange to be talking to a perfect metal copy of yourself."

"Well, I have been doing some testing on the cloning ring we got from him," Baby Luigi said. "It looks like it creates metallic clones of any organic matter it hits, even plant or animal life. But it does nothing if it hits anything inorganic, even thin plastic sheets."

"So you're saying that as long as we wear some sort of body armor, we should be invulnerable to those lasers?" Baby Mario asked.

"Yep," Baby Luigi said. "I think so, at least."

"Well, you came to that conclusion pretty quickly," Baby Mario said. "I hope you're right."

"Well, let's test it," Baby Luigi said. He tossed a thin metal chestplate to Baby Mario, who equipped it while Baby Luigi put the cloning ring on. Baby Luigi pointed the ring at Baby Mario and fired. A laser lanced out from the ring and struck Baby Mario in the chest, but it harmlessly dissipated across the chestplate.

"Nice," Baby Mario said. "We're going to take back the Caelestis Agency."

Another half an hour later, a dozen soldiers equipped in full body armor stood assembled in the foyer of the castle. Baby Mario, who was also equipped in thin armor, paced in front of them. "Alright, everyone," Baby Mario shouted. "You've all been briefed on the situation. Because of the body armor, we should be immune to the clones' lasers. However, they could start using super scopes and other conventional weapons, so there's still a risk. Now, as far as we know, the clones are immune to super scopes. Therefore, we will use items like Fire Flowers, Thunder Rages, and Ice Storms to defeat them. We've determined that the main entrance is too heavily guarded, so we're going to attack through an alternate entrance, that comes in through the living areas. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir!" the soldiers shouted.

Colonel Redington marched to the front of the troop and said, "Alright, let's move out!" The soldiers dashed down a narrow hallway off to the side of the foyer. At the end of the hallway was a large metal shaft. One of the soldiers kicked open the shaft, revealing a tall ladder going down to the Caelestis Agency. The soldiers began climbing down the ladder.

At the bottom, the first soldier down burst through a door, quickly searching the area. The rest of the team came through as the soldier said, "Clear."

"Alright," Baby Mario said. "Redington, you and your team clear out all the clones you can find. Baby Luigi and I will try to get to General White's office and see if we can't take out the leader of this whole thing."

"Got it," Redington said. "Alright men, let's move out!"

* * *

Several minutes later, Metal Baby Luigi was in General White's office, looking at a display of the base. Red dots, signifying Redington's team, moved through the hallways, taking out any silver dots, signifying metal clones. Eventually, they made it to the cloning room and began freeing as many people as they could. Metal Baby Luigi slammed his fist into the desk and left.

Baby Mario and Baby Luigi got closer to General White's room. Another metal clone fired a laser at them, but the laser harmlessly hit their body armor. Baby Mario leapt at the clone and smashed its head in using his hammer. They then turned a corner and came upon the last hallway to the control room. Then, more clones blocked their way. These clones took out super scopes and fired at the Baby Mario Bros. A bullet nicked Baby Mario in the arm, while one just barely missed Baby Luigi. They ducked back around the corner, and Baby Mario took out an Ice Storm. A blizzard of ice shot forward, freezing the clones. Baby Luigi then rushed forward, grabbed one of the frozen clones, and smashed it into the other clone, destroying both.

"Are you okay?" Baby Luigi asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Baby Mario said. He took out a bandage and wrapped it around where the bullet nicked him. "Let's go." They burst through the door to General White's room and saw that Metal Baby Luigi was gone.

Baby Luigi looked out the window to the meeting room, and saw dozens of clones there. Baby Luigi barely saw his metal doppelgänger escaping behind the clones.

"I've got an idea," Baby Mario said. He set down his backpack, reached into it, and pulled out a metal cap. He took off his normal hat and put the metal cap on. His entire body was instantly transformed into metal. Baby Mario then stepped out into the meeting room. The metal clones reached for their super scopes, but stopped when they saw that Baby Mario was seemingly one of them. Baby Mario stepped forward into the middle of the clones, then paused. He then quickly pulled out a Bob-omb and detonated it.

The explosion shot out through the room, annihilating the metal clones. Baby Luigi rushed into the meeting room when the smoke was clear and saw Baby Mario standing there unharmed, no longer in his metal cap form. "Good thing the metal cap makes me temporarily invulnerable," Baby Mario said.

"Let's get down to the control room!" Baby Luigi said. They rushed down into the control room and saw Metal Baby Luigi place his hands over the control sphere. The Caelestis activated, creating a wormhole between Plit and the desert planet.

Metal Baby Luigi then took out his hammer and raised it over his head, preparing to smash the control sphere. "Don't!" Baby Mario shouted. Baby Mario took out his super scope and shot the handle of the hammer, causing Metal Baby Luigi to drop it. Metal Baby Luigi glared at the Baby Mario Bros, then rushed forward, jumped through the glass overlooking the Caelestis, and tumbled into the Caelestis room.

Baby Mario and Baby Luigi rushed up to the shattered glass window and saw Metal Baby Luigi getting up. Baby Mario pulled out a power-up to use, but Metal Baby Luigi dashed through the Caelestis to the desert planet. On the other side of the wormhole, Metal Baby Luigi rushed to the control sphere and placed his hands over it, disengaging the Caelestis.

Just then, Baby Mario got a radio message. Colonel Redington said, "Baby Mario, all the clones that we can find have been neutralized."

"Alright," Baby Mario said. "Regroup in the meeting room."

* * *

A few days later, Caelestis Alpha was in a meeting with General White. General White sat down and said, "Caelestis Beta just returned from the desert planet, but they found nothing. The remote for the desert planet's control sphere had been taken."

"My metal copy probably dialed to another planet and took the remote so we couldn't follow him," Baby Luigi said.

"So he can just restart what he was planning to do on another planet," Baby Mario said.

"The good news is that we've done an entire sweep of the base," General White said. "Every clone has been neutralized. In addition, we also have a few of the cloning rings they were using, and the blueprints for the energy weapon that Metal Baby Luigi gave us."

"I've been looking at the cloning rings," Baby Luigi said. "They're impossibly complicated. They'll take decades to reverse engineer, probably longer. I don't even know whether to call them magic or technology."

"I've managed to complete the translation of the hieroglyphs on the walls of the chamber we found the device in," Kooper said. "They basically confirm what Metal Baby Luigi told Baby Luigi. Scientists on that planet accidentally created the metal clones, and the metal clones overran the planet, forcing them to use massive radiation bombs to take out the clones."

Baby Mario said, "Those scientists must've been pretty stupid to not include any failsafes or anything. You know, this does beg a question. If we beat back the clones so easily, why couldn't they?"

"I wouldn't say that we beat them easily," Kooper said, "and we got lucky. We only had to deal with a few hundred clones. By the time word was spread, they probably had millions to deal with."

"And even with our luck, we almost lost containment," General White said. "If the metal clones escaped the Caelestis Agency, what happened to the civilization on that desert planet could've very well happened here on Plit."

"I'm concerned about security," Baby Mario said. "These metal guys were able to easily take over the entire base. If they could, who's to say that another, more powerful enemy, like the Old Kings, couldn't?

"That is why I am establishing a new objective for Caelestis Alpha," General White said. "This objective is to find an uninhabited planet that we can build a secondary Caelestis base on, so that if anything like this happens again, it might be contained to only that base, and not spread to Plit. Eventually, we'll move all Caelestis operations to this off-world base, and only use Plit's Caelestis for communication to that base."

"Sounds like a good plan," Baby Mario said. "With your permission, Caelestis Alpha will begin searching for a suitable planet immediately."

"Permission granted," General White said. The group got up and went down to the control room. A technician entered a code into the control sphere, creating a wormhole between Plit and another planet. Caelestis Alpha stepped through the wormhole, beginning another adventure.


End file.
